Blood is Thicker
by MyHikari
Summary: After the war, Konoha rebuilds itself. Naruto sets out to find his family, while he works toward his goal of becoming Hokage.His friends experience their own life changes along the way. NaruSaku and others
1. Chapter 1

Blood is Thicker Chapter 1

A/N: Hello and welcome to my brand spanking new for serious fanfiction! I would love and appreciate reviews and feedback!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

Tsunade surveyed the camp that the soldiers had dubbed "Victory Camp." Indeed, it was aptly named such, for the allied forces had finally overtaken the Akatsuki. The camp had been set up because everyone felt too tired to travel home so soon after the final battle. Ninjas everywhere were either in a celebratory mood or trying to locate friends and family members. Some, however, could not find their beloved. One such example was one of Tsunade's own, a Hinata Hyuuga who was now orphaned after the death of her father.

The heiress Kunoichi sat among her kin, her sister rubbing her back soothingly as Hinata stared off with an empty look, overwhelmed by her horrible day. The killing, the bloodshed, the loss of her father, and furthermore, her unrequited love. After the announcement of victory, Sakura had healed Naruto, and afterwards they stood over Sasuke's body tearfully saying goodbye. This Hinata understood, as she herself loved her teammates, but it was afterward that disappointed her. The pair had stayed away from the crowd, deep in conversation. Hinata watched as the conversation turned serious to angry, then angry to tearful, then tearful to happier. After seeing their faces now, animatedly discussing memories and laughing with nostalgia plastered on their faces and sadness in their eyes, Hinata realized something.

She would never understand him quite like Sakura.

She would never evoke the same feelings in him like Sakura.

She never stood a chance.

All the thoughts consumed Hinata, and along with her other troubles she made a snap decision, like she was prone to under duress. Shakily, Hinata stood and looked toward her sister.

"I'd like some air." she said, receiving a nod from Hanabi.

At first, she walked, and after gaining distance, she began to run. She ran all the way into the forest, towards a cliff she knew the location of. And she leapt.

And fell, her limbs flying wildly as tears flew upward while she flew down, eyes squeezed shut tightly.

But then she hit something. And it wasnt the surface, it was softer and flexible.

It was sand.

"Hyuuga-san this is not so wise," came the quit voice of the Kazekage, Gaara. "Imagine my surprise when I see a close friend of Naruto's leap off of a cliff while I visit with the moon."

Hinata peeked her eyes open to see Gaara's sandals. She sat up as the sand cloud they were on rose back the surface. Once it did, she stepped off onto the grass and sat down, her hands covering her eyes as she sobbed.

"Care to share, Hyuuga-san?"

"I've lost my father..." she began, leaving her other troubles silent.

"I lost my father 4 years ago. Sorry for your loss..."

And with that, Hinata cried silently, as Gaara stared into the moon.

Sakura turned her attention to the moon as well, touched the arm of her companion briefly.

" Ne, Naruto, look at the moon."

"It's still here," he replied wearily.

"And it's because of you y'know. You saved us all, and now-" she said before she was interrupted, by Naruto's lips claiming hers. She was surprised, and when he let go, he gently touched her cheek and said "I don't want to hear about how great I am, Sakura."

With this, Sakura smiled and gave Naruto another kiss, reassuring him of her love.

Kakashi turned away from the sight of his students to see Shizune. She smiled brightly. "Tsunade-sama requests your presence!"

He nodded and followed Shizune throughout the camp. Many of the other ninja were resting and healing, and the jubilant tone had simmered down substantially. He noticed many of Naruto's friends sitting around a campfire. Temari was laying on Shikamaru Nara's shoulder, and many of the Konoha 11 were chatting. Shizune turned to look back. "It's a surprise they're even awake they all worked so hard."

Kakashi nodded. "They'll surpass us before you know it."

When they reached Tsunade's tent, the Hokage was sleeping with her face resting on a strategy table. Shizune quickly shook her mentor awake.

"Ahh, yes, Kakashi..."

Two days later, Konoha nin were streaming in through the gates of their home village. Family members stood to find their loved ones. Some were greeted happily and others waited and waited to no avail. However, when Naruto walked through the gates everyone started to cheer. He bashfully smiled and waved, and tried to continue on walking, but he quickly became surrounded by throngs of people yelling about the future Hokage.

Sakura elbowed her way through the crowd.

"Ok, ok people, move along! Leave the future Hokage be!" she said, using her strength to escape.

"Thanks Sakura-chan!" he said, glad to have escaped the crowd. She smiled, "No problem."

"Hey! Naruto! Sakura!" called Ino, running up with Shikamaru, Choji and Kiba. "We're about to go eat at Choji's parents restaurant to celebrate. Wanna come?"

"Sounds great, I'm starved!" Naruto replied, feeling his growling stomach. "Where are the others?"

"I dunno, I couldn't find Hinata or Shino." Kiba said, scratching his head. "She just lost her father though, so she's probably dealing with her clan."

"She just needs time..." Ino said sadly.

Nobody knew that Hinata had attempted suicide. Nobody knew she spent the night sitting with the Kazekage after failing to plummet to her death. They just knew she was sad, and understandably so.

Even though Hinata was sad enough to attempt to jump off a cliff, she was very grateful she was saved. In retrospect she realized she would have made a grave mistake, however, it did cause her to meet Gaara. he was surprisingly kind, and listened to her plight as she sobbed pathetically. She guessed he was very lonely too.

He told her a bit about his life as the Kazekage and about his siblings, and even told her about the Sand village, because she never had the pleasure of visiting.

Gaara was pleasant company, and she was glad to have not been alone. However, the two were now in separate countries, and she had more pressing issues to attend to. She was acting clan leader until the elders passed judgement.

She didn't want to be clan leader, but somebody had to arrange Hiashi's funeral. She almost wanted to abdicate, leaving Hanabi in charge, or preferably Neji, as her waitstaff were circulating rumors he was even being considered. Nobody really had much faith in Hinata as a clan leader.

She felt that she could rise to the occasion, however, she felt far too young for her to need to. It was rather unfair to the 3 young Hyuugas in her opinion. Hinata very much wished to escape the politics of the clan, as she had told Gaara, who at least understood the fine nuances of clan drama, being the Kazekage.

As she walked around her home, with a warm cup of tea in her hands, she muddled her thoughts over. She stopped to stare at the garden, imagining her Mother tending to flowers as she ran about, far less shy than she used to be, and occasionally stopping to peer at an infant Hanabi sitting in a basket, babbling away as if she could understand at such a young age.

"Your tea will get cold." a voice rang throughout the foyer.

"Neji. How are you feeling? Sore? I have some ointmen-"

"The better question is how are you, Hinata?" he said, coming to stand next to her.

"As good as I can be I suppose..." she said trying to contain herself.

"I saw...Naruto and Sakura..."

"Then you needn't say anything," she said brusquely before walking away leaving Neji in an awkward silence.

A/N: Sooooooo I'm done! Sorry that it was mostly Hinata centric but it is all for set up purposes! I PROMISE more NaruSaku-y goodness in later chapters!

Please review! I don't mind constructive criticism, and I will respond at the beginning of every new chapter!

Please leave a review, peeps!

-MyHikari


	2. Chapter 2

Blood is Thicker Chapter 2

A/N: Welcome to Chapter 2! Thank you to everybody who followed and favorited peeps!

King Nintendo: Thank you! Here it is!

Starfire201: Thank you for the advice, and yes, I do know. Right now I'm setting everything up! ;)

charles cdv: Here it is!

NarutoLuver896: The worst is over for Hinata!

dbzgtfan2004: Thank you!

Two weeks had passed since the war ended. Tsunade sat at her desk, catching up on her overload of paperwork. She had so much paperwork, she even gave Sakura and Shizune a massive stack each to do as "An Extension of the Hokage" she liked to say. Tsunade was even considering taking on another apprentice due to the workload.

Today, the Hokage had 2 urgent meetings. First, she had to settle what she liked to call "the Karin problem", and then she had to follow up with Kakashi. He was of course going to be late, so she yelled for Shizune to let Karin in. The redhead was escorted by a guard from the Interrogation Corps. She seemed rather pale, and tad skinnier than she remembered, however her face was determined and her chin was held high.

"Karin, I presume?" Tsunade asked, after dismissing her guard.

"Karin Akamine."

"Well, Karin, Inoichi Yamanaka seems to think you'll be able to join Konoha without a double-cross, but as you can see, I'm in no position to let you go do as you please with Leaf asylum."

"I... So... I can't?" Karin began nervously, starting to fidget.

"So here's what I'll do. I know a guy who is kinda sorta out of a job because of Danzo, so I'll assign him to be your personal guard and you can bond over a shared hatred, kay?" Tsunade said with a slight wink.

Karin gave a nod, and caught the leaf headband Tsunade lazily threw at her head. The busty Hokage then began to rifle about in her desk. After finding what she was looking for and pulling a clipboard out of a stack of papers like a Janga expert, she handed the citizenship papers to Karin to fill out.

As Karin filled out information, she also watched Tsunade turn to her and take a swig of Sake. Karin snorted to herself and finished her paperwork, just as a person entered the office, presumably her guard. She handed her clipboard to Tsunade, who flipped over the information with a rubber stamp in hand in order to approve it. The guard looked to Karin.

"You're Sasuke's girlfriend." he said with a false smile on his rather plastic face.

Karin was taken aback, but quickly angered by the statement.

"I was never his girlfriend. Are you my guard?" she asked, sort of recognizing the fellow. Tsunade interjected. "This is Sai, he's your new roomie!" she said, stamping the clipboard, before looking up. "So I see you know a thing or two medicine-wise?" she asked, hopefully.

Karin nodded, not quite sure why she asked. Tsunade smiled, almost devilishly.

"Great! I now pronounce you my new medical apprentice! I have paperwork for you to do tomorrow morning." she chirped happily.

Sai smiled even wider. "You seem to be Tsunade-sama's new bitch."

"Damn straight! And Sai, you can help!"

Meanwhile, in the waiting area, Kakashi sat atop Shizune's desk, reading Icha Icha Paradise. Shizune grumpily looked up at Kakashi, as he was blocking her from doing her share of paperwork, which she did more efficiently than the Hokage, she might add.

"Ne, Kakashi-san, I can't do my paperwork!" she said with a pout. Kakashi looked down at the diminutive woman below him.

"Tonton is sleeping in the waiting chair," he said before tapping Shizune's Tsunade bobble head and going back to reading. Shizune huffed and tried to push him off her desk.

"Tsk tsk Shizune, if you want to touch my butt just ask," Kakashi said with a giggle as Shizune tried with all her might to push him off. Eventually, she gave up, grabbed a stack of paperwork and huffed away to the staff lounge.

Kakashi smiled and then proceeded to enter Tsunade's office when he saw Sai and Karin leave.

"You look happy, Tsunade-sama," he said, looking up from his orange book of naughtiness.

"You sure bet I am! Anyhow, have you thought over what we discussed?"

"I have, and I think I'd rather see Naruto as the 6th Hokage. He's young, but you still have a few years left in you..." Kakashi said, trailing off.

"Very well, but until that time, if I croak before Naruto's ready, you're looking at a promotion."

"Indeed, it would appear so." Kakashi drawled before walking off.

Now that her business was finished, Tsunade happily poured herself a glass of sake in preparation for her afternoon nap.

Naruto wiped a bit of sweat off his brow before attacking 5 more of his own clones. When the smoke cleared, it revealed Sakura, standing there with a hand on her hip.

"Training already, Naruto? It's not even 10 o'clock."

"Morning, Sakura! What do I owe the pleasure?" he asked, extinguishing all of his clones with a poof.

"I was going to ask you to to breakfast, and was going to tell you about the Karin thing, but I couldn't find you!"

"What did Baa-chan decide?"

"She's officially a leaf Kunoichi, Sai is assigned to be her detail for a probation period."

"We should go say hi! Come on!" he said before grabbing her hand and setting off for Sai's home at his normal exuberant breakneck pace.

When Sai answered his door to see Naruto and an out of breath Sakura, he smiled to his usual degree of fake and kindly greeted his guests.

"Small dick, ugly hag, how nice of you to visit!"

Naruto had to hold Sakura back by the collar of her shirt while she tried to pummel Sai, that is, until they noticed Karin had approached the doorway. Naruto smiled, and Sakura regained her composure.

"Hello Karin! It's me, Naruto! Sakura and I have come to visit you!"

"Welcome to Konoha, Karin," Sakura added.

"Oh hello, and thank you," Karin said, a little stiffly. "I'm afraid I was about to run some errands. I haven't any belongings, really. I need some clothes."

"I could go with you, Karin, I know where the better stores are," Sakura offered.

"They may not be in my budget I'm afraid..." Karin mentioned with a frown.

"Didn't Hokage-sama give you some money?" Naruto asked.

"She made me an apprentice." To this, Sakura erupted in laughter.

"You're her bitch now!" the pink haired medic said through sobs of laughter.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?"

Sakura sympathetically patted her on the back and motioned for Karin to follow her down the street. "You can pay me back later..."

This left Naruto still standing on Sai's stoop.

"Thank you for visiting, Naruto." he said politely before slamming his door, leaving Naruto by himself.

Matsuri walked into Gaara's office with a stack of paperwork. All the Kages were terribly behind on it. The redhead caught sight of his student and groaned. He had been a little distracted lately, staring out the window, even taking breaks to go walk around. Everyone assumed he was finding it hard to go back to normal after the war.

He'd barely slept, even for his standards. Gaara was simply consumed. Matsuri frowned. She always had a crush on him, and had tried several times lately to make things more romantic. She'd made him lunches, worn nice things when she talked to him, even pretended she was going on dates and sending flowers to herself. Her efforts were to no avail, as he seemed to barely notice, however, it was driving Kankuro nuts with curiosity.

"Matsuri."

Upon hearing her name, she paused from arranging files and looked up, giving the Kazekage her undivided attention.

"Get me Temari."

She frowned the slightest bit, and went to fetch his sister, and dutifully brought her to his office. When the blonde arrived, Gaara looked to her.

"Pack your bags, Temari. We're going to Konoha. Matsuri, send a hawk to Tsunade alerting her ahead of time. Kankuro is in charge, see that he doesn't make too much trouble please."

Matsuri watched him leave within an hour, and sighed as she turned to Kankuro spinning around in Gaara's chair. She straightened it with a huff and stomped off, leaving Kankuro dumbfounded.

"What's got your panties in a knot?"

A/N: And that's all she wrote, peeps!

Thank you, and please review! ;)

-MyHikari

***IMPORTANT NOTICE, PLEASE READ***: Yes, I am fully aware that Karin is an Uzumaki. However, in this story, she will claim to go by "Akamine" meaning "red peak". This is because, A) We don't know if Karin knows, B) She could be hiding it if she does, or C) Is an Uzumaki but on her mothers side. I haven't decided which yet, but after receiving approximately 4 reviews stating something I already know, I just want to warn my readers in advance, so they don't get confused!


	3. Chapter 3

Blood is Thicker Chapter 3

A/N: Please enjoy, read and review! Thank you to everybody who favorited and reviewed! ;)

King Nintendo: :) won't have to wait to long!

Starfire201: Yes, we aren't done with Karin! And as for Matsuri, we aren't done with her either.

* * *

"Oww! What the heck was that for?" a child yelled out in pain. Sakura straightened herself and smiled.

"I just popped your shoulder back into place. That's how we fix something that gets disjointed." she said with a pat on his head, before turning to the genin's doting mother. "He shouldn't be feeling any pain after this, it should feel right as rain."

"Thank you, doctor!"

Sakura walked away with a smile, while filling out her patient's chart. She handed it to Ami at the nurses station.

"Please discharge the genin. I popped in his shoulder." Sakura said, picking up another patient's chart. Ami rolled her eyes at the girl she used to make fun of in the academy. She sometimes felt like the medic liked keeping her busy on purpose. But then again, Sakura kept lots of nurses busy. Her patients normally recovered pretty quickly, compared to some doctors.

Sakura went to her office to pick up her lunch and drop of her paperwork. Upon entering, she saw her mother, Mebuki standing there examining a card that came with a bouquet of flowers. They had been delivered earlier in the morning.

"Aren't they pretty?" she asked her mother.

"They are!" her mother, a Mebuki Haruno replied. "You ARE going to dinner with Naruto, right?"

Sakura nodded. Mebuki smiled.

"Good, i hope you enjoy yourself but I don't want to see you set a foot in my ward!"

Sakura laughed. Her mother was Konoha's top medic in the maternity ward, her specialty being the safe delivery of Konoha's newest citizens. Sakura once tried to help out, but greatly preferred dabbling in all areas of medicine. That, and birth was gruesome.

"I brought you lunch, Sakura." Mebuki said, reaching into a bag, and handing it to her.

"Thanks mom, but I brought a salad." Sakura said, showing her the wimpy salad that had lost its appeal after sitting all morning. The younger Haruno sighed and accepted the warm meal, much to her chagrin as her mother grinned gloatingly.

* * *

Karin looked at the new clothes Sakura had bought her. They had chosen black capris, And a lavender turtleneck just to start her off until she could afford newer clothes. Karin insisted on long sleeves, so as to cover her scars. For shoes, she had black ninja sandals with a chunky heel that was about an inch high. Karin struggled a little with the zipper to her capris, and then picked up her new headband.

Staring, Karin tried to figure out a way to wear it. She placed it like Sakura's, but found it disagreeable. She lifted her bangs, and held it to her forehead, but didn't quite like that either. Eventually, she gave up and just tied it around her left thigh. Satisfied, Karin took one last precursory check in the mirror to examine herself. Finding nothing out of place, she exited Sai's bathroom.

Sai's home was very plain. There were two bedrooms, his own, which Karin had never set foot in, and hers. The room was rather bare, with a simple futon set up for her. The closet housed extra art supplies, which she planned to pack up and give to Sai, so she could hang the clothing she would eventually buy. The bathroom was also plain, with a full length mirror and the basic bathroom appliances. The kitchen had a small table with one chair. The cabinets were nearly empty, housing neatly stacked dishes and exactly one pot, one pan, and one tea kettle. Sai was currently sitting on a black couch turned to face his kitchen area. Karin guessed that was his sitting room.

She approached him, and saw that he was sketching. Sensing her presence, he turned his sketch pad away from Karin and looked up at her.

"I'm leaving to see the Hokage." Sai nodded and stood, setting his sketch pad and pen on his bare coffee table.

"Then we are leaving to see the Hokage."

The two had walked in a rather awkward silence as Karin observed the village. She wasn't used to large, bustling places. She was used to quiet places, like caves or abandoned buildings. But yet, something about the Leaf seemed homey to her. The villagers walked among the ninja, and most of the residents were bright and cheery, going about their errands or catching lunch with a friend. Konoha's nin were odd too, rarely serious or threatening while at home. Sai was an exception, being rather blank in any situation, but Karin had seen that he was at least attempting to act like a normal person.

Upon arrival, Sakura and Shizune shot Karin a sympathetic look, but Tsunade greeted her happily.

"You're here! Good! First, I want you to do this stack of paperwork. Shizune will explain what you need to do. It isn't important stuff, so don't worry. Then, when you finish, come see me, and I'll evaluate you to see what you know!"

Karin nodded, but Sai raised his hand.

"What shall I do, Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade grinned broadly. "You'll be doing paperwork the whole time."

When Karin did finally finish her massive workload, she stepped into Tsunade's office as told. However, she found her in deep conversation with a red haired man- the Kazekage.

"Well, if you can get her to agree to it, I'd say it's worth a shot, but I'm not so sure you're plan will be met with support..." Tsunade said, before looking up to see Karin. "Ah, Kazekage-sama, since we appear to be finished, I'm afraid I have something to attend to, I expect you'll visit before you leave?"

The redheaded Kazekage nodded before bowing and exiting Tsunade's office. Gaara followed a path he had memorized from a map while still in the hotel. He continued along the path, as it led him into a nicer district of Konoha, where the big clans lived. He stopped after reaching by far the biggest home, the Hyuuga home.

He opened the gate and entered the property, feeling almost silly when he rang their doorbell. He waited a moment, before Neji opened the door, surprised to see Gaara.

"Kazekage-sama? Can I help you?"

"I would like to see Hinata Hyuuga, please."

Neji nodded, slightly confused, and opened the door to allow Gaara inside. The long haired man led Gaara to an elaborate sitting room, and explained he'd bring Hinata in a moment.

Gaara waited, examining the elaborate rugs, the intricate fireplace and the antique furniture. No doubt about it, the Hyuuga clan was loaded. He felt out of place, as no place in Suna was quite so extravagant.

Hinata entered the room, and seeing Gaara, she bowed and greeted him demurely.

"Kazekage-sama. You requested my presence?"

He nodded, and stood to face her. "After our talk a couple weeks ago, I felt...involved. You shared personal things with me, and I feel oddly fond of you for doing that. Most are very professional around me, due to my status. After our discussion, I feel obliged to help you." he stated, in the best way he could, speaking quickly, so he didn't stop.

"Help me? I...I wasn't asking for any help, Kazekage-sama." she said, a little nervously.

"I want to help."

"How exactly?" Hinata asked, very warily.

He paused, wondering the best way to put his plan. Finally, he just let it out.

"Marry me."

* * *

A/N: That's all for now kiddies! Please be kind and leave a review with your thoughts!

-MyHikari


	4. Chapter 4

Blood is Thicker Chapter 4

A/N: Hello! Thank you to everyone who faved and followed! Please enjoy and review! ;)

M Night Seiran: Don't you worry your pretty little head, it totally is NS! I just have a special fondness for GH that is going to set up part of the story! ;) In fact, a nice slice of NS goodness is coming up ahead! And yes, I do know that Karin is an Uzumaki, the question is, does she?

* * *

"Marry me."

Hinata gasped and immediately turned away from him. "M..marry you?"

"You can escape your life. You can be free to do whatever you like, you could work as a Konoha diplomat, be a Jonin squad leader, make whatever career choice you'd like. No pressure, no clan leading and all you'd have to do in return is appear at events with me as my wife."

"I..I don't know... My clan... I..." Hinata wracked with nervousness.

"Are you telling me your clan wouldn't let you marry the Kazekage?"

"They probably would leap at the chance," she said lowering her head. "We're young though, I'm only 16."

"It could be a long engagement. You could even plan the wedding." Somehow, that didn't comfort Hinata.

"I've always wanted to marry for love though..." She said, feeling overwhelmed. "I..I mean I just... I could escape clan drama, but I'm sure there could be drama in Suna. And I could pick any career I want and do as I please, but I couldn't do anything to cause a scandal. And what if I fell in love?"

"What if you fell in love with me?"

Hinata was left silent at this. She truly did not know what to say. Feeling indecisive, she sighed.

"You'll have your answer by tomorrow morning."

Gaara nodded, and she pointed in the direction of the door, almost afraid to look at him.

Gaara didn't know how or why he came up with such a proposal. He didn't even know what he cared so much about sheltering some girl he just met from her cold home life. He wasn't normally like this, usually he didn't care for such trivial things. But after she shared all her problems with him, he felt like he knew her. Like he was close to her, and being close to anybody was all he wanted in life. Sure he had Naruto, Temari and Kankuro but they couldn't offer him the companionship he seeked.

He just didn't want to be alone.

Hinata laid on her bed wearily. She simply did not know what was appropriate to think of her situation. The handsome Kazekage was also greatly feared among the nations, once for being a monster, but now for being a hero.

She felt like marrying for something was wrong, but she also felt his offer was too good to give up.

She considered the downsides. She wouldn't know anybody. She'd have to live in Suna, away from her friends and family. She'd even probably be expected to have a child.

The upsides? She was exempt from becoming clan leader. She wouldn't have to deal with any politics or tradition. For the most part, she could do whatever she pleased. That seemed very attractive to her, and oh, there was another reason. Gaara was pretty darned handsome.

She continued to muddle it over, while Gaara almost nervously awaited his answer.

* * *

Naruto checked the time once more, waiting for Sakura to get off of her hospital shift. The final minute seemed like a laborious wait of ages and ages, until he finally looked up to check the clock once more and saw Sakura standing in front of him. He immediately sprang up and greeted her with a hug.

"Thank goodness, Sakura! I've been waiting forever!"

"Somehow I doubt that, Naruto. What do you have planned for the evening?" she asked, offering him her arm. Naruto smiled a foxy grin.

"That, my dear, is a surprise!"

It turned out, the surprise was dinner on top of the Hokage monument. Naruto had clones set up a blanket and a candle. Of course, another clone had been sent to pick up dinner- Ichiraku ramen. Naruto seemed really pleased with himself.

"I told my clone to surprise me, and boy he was on the money, this is exactly what I wanted!" Sakura giggled at Naruto's excitement over ramen. He offered her her usual order, which she immediately accepted, being a little drained from her shift.

For a while it was silent, as Naruto happily inhaled his dinner and Sakura savored hers slowly per usual. When she had finally put her chopsticks down, she took a deep breath and looked down at the village.

"I almost never come up here. Kinda sad, because it's really beautiful up here."

Naruto nodded in understanding. "I used to come up here a lot. It was a good place to watch them look for me after I pulled a prank," he said with a laugh. "But I also came up here to think.

"What did you think about?"

"Its kind of heavy... I'd think about why I was unlucky, why I didn't have any parents, why I didn't have any friends. When my life started getting progressively better, I stopped coming here so often because there was less to think about."

Sakura smiled sadly. He looked at her, with all seriousness in his eyes. "I met my parents, during the war."

Sakura's quizzical expression must have encouraged him to elaborate, because he continued.

"It was in my mind of course. My mother, her name was Kushina Uzumaki, and she was the Kyuubi container before me. She was pretty, with long red hair."

Sakura smiled. "What about your father?"

"My father was Minato Namikaze."

This statement was met by a gasp. Sakura covered her mouth with her hands.

"The resemblance... It..it's truly uncanny."

"I got my looks from my Dad, and my personality from my Mom."

"Was it like you expected?" Sakura asked softly, looking at him.

Naruto sighed and laid on his back, looking at the moon and starry night sky.

"I..I don't know... I expected Mom to be...Mom-ish, you know, loving and gentle. She was, but she kinda hit me once... And, Dad... I didn't expect him to be the 4th. Kinda ups the ante for me to be Hokage, huh? It's in my blood..."

Sakura smiled. "It just gives you more incentive to live up to your family name!"

Naruto laughed, and the two continued their banter with more trivial topics, such as How long it'd take before Shikamaru and Temari were official, or Tsunade's frightening excitement over Karin doing her paperwork. Throughout their conversation, Sakura put her head on his chest, and joined him in looking at the clear night sky. She then asked a question which truly frightened Naruto to his core.

"So when are you coming to meet my family?"

* * *

A/N: And that's a wrap! Please be kind, and leave a review! It really makes a writers day when you leave a comment with your thoughts.

Look forward to a Naruto and Hinata confrontation next time on Blood is Thicker!

With Love,

-MyHikari


	5. Chapter 5

Blood is Thicker Chapter 5

A/N: Thank you to all who faved and followed! Here's a new chapter for ya, kiddies! Please enjoy and review!

Guest: Thank you! That's very kind of you to say!

M Night Seiran: Well I'm certainly glad you enjoy the GaaHina! I sometimes worry my pairings won't go over so well :) As for the "-chan" I believe I'm going to use it on more light-hearted occasions. In Japan, not using a "chan" or "san" indicates that the people speaking are intimate or know each other on a personal level. Because their discussion was so serious, I decided to leave out the "-chan". And yes, I don't know if Karin knows, but I've come up with a scenario anyhow.

Nocturnal Shinobi: Yes, one can only imagine the shenanigans Naruto could get into at the Haruno household! Thanks for the review :)

bankai777: Haha, the Konoha 11's future kids are a little further ahead! I hope you don't want both twins to be named Kushina? Lol, thank you for the review! ;)

: The Narusaku will take center stage in the next chapter or so, with Hinata's "arc" shall we say is getting pretty much wrapped up right now. The Hinata stuff is mostly for setup, as this fic is still pretty young! And as for Karin, I realize what you're saying, however Karin isn't making any decisions, and is heavily supervised. At best, she is stamping papers and filing d-rank mission info and other trivial things. I apologize for the confusion! Thank you for taking the time to review and follow ;)

* * *

After walking Sakura home from dinner, Naruto decided to take the long way to his apartment building, perfectly happy to gaze a bit more at the night sky. Upon arriving at his building, he simply leaped to his floor, going through a hallway window that was always open, as it didn't have any coverings. Perhaps it was for ninja convenience?

Once Naruto had finally gotten in his apartment and happily she's his jacket and threw it on the couch, there was a knock on the door.

It was Hinata.

"Naruto, may I come in?" she asked determinedly. Naruto could only nod, a little confused by her behavior.

"I've recently made a decision." she said, sitting on his breakfast stool. "I'm going to marry Gaara."

"What? Gaara? Why would you do that?"

Hinata sighed. "Several reasons. First, because I really don't want to be clan leader. Second, because I want a new start."

"It doesn't sound like you love him, Hinata."

"I don't. But he offered me a chance to have a clean slate and decide things for myself, and I think I deserve that."

"Why would he make such an offer? Hinata, you should be with the one you love."

Hinata whirled to face him, her eyes angry.

"I CAN'T!"

Naruto's eyes widened in realization. Becoming the 6-tailed must have made him forget the fact she had feelings for him.

"I know you don't feel the same. And I'm happy that you're happy, even if I'm sad it's not with me, but I want a new start, Naruto! Even if I don't love Gaara, I love the fact I can be...freer if I take this opportunity!"

"How did this come about?" Naruto asked, a little confused, considering he wasn't aware they knew each other.

Hinata eyes looked a little hurt, and she turned away. Naruto saw the navy hair move as she shook her head.

"We met in the Victory Camp," she said slowly before heading for the door. "Look, Naruto, I...I hope you can forgive me, but you're happy now. I want to be happy too. Don't be mad at Gaara either. He's doing me a huge service."

Hinata walked out the door with that, leaving Naruto a little dumbfounded. He sat down on his couch, scratching his head a little. He supposed he couldn't stop her from doing as she wished but he couldn't help but feel a little bad about the whole situation. Other than a few inklings of regret about how it was handled, Naruto felt the whole thing was in a way...resolved.

Hinata dashed through the streets with a smile on her face as the sun began to rise. She felt a little free already, after finally letting go of big part of her life. Now, she was ready to let go of even more. She ran up the stairs of the hotel Gaara was staying at, and arrived at his door before she knew it. Next thing she knew, Gaara was opening the door, his face glowing with the light from the rising sun coming in through his window. Hinata could see Temari in the background.

"I'll do it!"

* * *

A couple hours later, a different redhead, Karin looked sadly at the toilet she had just puked in. She stood and flushed, not looking at the mess. However, she did look at herself in the mirror. Her already difficult to tame hair was a little matted from not yet being brushed and Karin was very pale.

There was a soft knock at the door.

"S..Sai, could you please go away?"

"You're sick, Karin?"

"I know, I'll just go see Sakura, she's a medic, right?"

"But what about working with Tsunade-sama?"

Karin put her hands on her head, sighed and opened the door. Sai was rather taken aback by her appearance, she was even still in her pajamas.

"Can you just tell her I feel under the weather?"

Sai nodded, appearing the slightest bit confused.

Later, Sakura sat outside Sai's bathroom pinching her nose. She had banished Sai to his room for "medical privacy", and took over from there.

"Ok, you can come in," Karin called.

Sakura opened the door and immediately stepped in. Karin pointed to the object on the sink. "It..it's positive."

Sakura picked it up and examined it. "Sometimes they're wrong. Maybe we should go see my mother..."

"No! No, I..I just, for some reason you're the only one I trust with this right now!"

Sakura sighed. "I suppose I could examine you, but seeing my mother would get you a definite answer. So when was it?"

"Right before the war, but really I barely remember... As much as I was into him, he kinda forced himself on me. It didn't even mean anything to him. After he tried to kill me, I didn't even think it could be possible."

Sakura nodded, and went to examine her with a jutsu she'd read about and even seen her mother perform many times.

"There's definitely something there... I'm not certain how old. Like I said, my mother is an expert."

However, Karin looked about green as she lunged for the toilet. Sakura quickly grabbed her hair and pulled it back. After emptying her stomach yet again, Karin sat against the wall, rubbing her temples. Sakura sat next to her, with a little concern.

"What do I do?"

* * *

Sakura wearily opened Naruto's apartment door, and flopped down on his couch. Coming out of the kitchen with some instant ramen, Naruto smiles happily and kissed her head.

"Oh goody! It's Sakura-chan! I was worried you were Hinata!" he said, plopping down next to her. Sakura furrowed her eyebrows.

"Why would you think I was Hinata?"

Naruto sheepishly rubbed his head. "She kinda barged in to inform me that she's going to marry Gaara."

"Marry Gaara? Hinata? Are you sure?"

"She said she wanted to get a clean slate since I'm with you now."

Sakura was a bit surprised. "Well I certainly never saw THAT coming."

Naruto set down his empty ramen cup, and put his arm around Sakura.

"So what brings you to my neck of the woods? It can't be the gossip, I hear Ino is pretty good at it."

Sakura ran her hands through her hair. "It's actually more gossip. Karin wanted me to tell you something."

"Shoot."

"She's...pregnant."

It was Naruto's turn to furrow his brows. "Is it what I think it is?"

"Yes, it's the return of the Uchiha."

Naruto stood at this, running his hand through his hair and pacing around his living room thinking. "I don't know if we should be happy we can honor Sasuke and try to make sure he's nothing like his father-"

"Hey! It could be a girl!"

"Not with my luck... Or, if we should be scared he'll be just like his old man no matter what?"

"But not scared about the fact Karin is 17..." Sakura deadpanned. "Or about what Tsunade will say."

"Leave Baa-chan to me, I can't let her do anything to Sasuke's child. I couldn't bring him back, the least I can do is protect his kid."

Sakura felt her heart break with what he said. "Naruto, nobody blames you for not bringing Sasuke back..." she said softly, almost a whisper. She stood to join him, her green eyes looking up into his blue eyes. "He wasn't the same Sasuke to bring back."

"I promised to..." Naruto said drawing her close. She wrapped her arms around his back tightly.

"I don't care anymore... I..I was 12, I didn't know better what it would do, and I was selfish. But I'm going to be selfish now, and request that you try to move past him."

Naruto sat back down on the couch, and said very sadly, "I'll try."

Sakura sat back down as well and rested her head on his shoulder. The two sat together this way for awhile, with Sakura even falling asleep for a bit. Naruto just watched her and sat quietly with his thoughts. His peers lives kept getting stranger and stranger it would seem. He didn't like it.

Even his normal life was different. Tsunade didn't send him on many missions anymore. Many were below him she argued. Sure, he had Sakura now. It seemed like his shining light at the moment.

He didn't like thinking about the war. Yet, it seemed to affect just about everything now. A day couldn't go by without at least one reference. It unsettled him.

However, there was one thing Naruto missed. Sometimes he'd sit and daydream, but he likes to think it was the dreams at night where he'd see his parents again. He'd like to believe that he really was talking to his parents when he slept. That or he was very imaginative... He wasn't quite sure, and apparently neither was Kurama.

Eventually, Naruto shook Sakura awake, kissed her goodbye and went to visit his parents for the night.

* * *

A/N: Done!

I realize that their is a lot of concern about Narusaku. Don't worry, they are coming into center stage! It was even that concern that inspired me to throw in the last bit about their visit!

Next time, Naruto meets Sakura's family! Are you listening, Nocturnal Shinobi? ;)

Thank you for reading! Please be kind and leave a review ;)

Peace, Love and Ramen Noodles!

-MyHikari


	6. Chapter 6

Blood is Thicker Chapter 6

A/N: Thank you to everybody who faved and followed! Please read the important note below!

Kyuubi-Sama: I'm sorry you feel that way. I tried to explain Hinata's thoughts a bit more, show what she wanted and why. I thought her talk with Naruto was necessary, but I guess not everyone thinks so.

Guest: Well, I certainly do try my best! I again apologize for not explaining Karin's paperwork role, I guess I thought everyone would assume its nothing important lol. And yes, this poor child of Karin's...

* * *

***IMPORTANT NOTE, PLEASE READ***: Yes, I am quite aware that canonically Sakura is an only child. And frankly my dear, I don't give a damn. I started working on this years ago, and I've very much retooled it to fit canon, however, this is a fanfic, and I am taking creative license in one of these few instances. Also, Sakura's parents have finally been revealed! Kizashi and Mebuki Haruno! You can look up a good picture of them drawn by I believe xxMeMoRiEzxx on deviantart.

* * *

Naruto nervously fidgeted before taking a deep breath before knocking on the door a two story home. The call "just a minute!" came from inside before it opened wide and revealed two Sakuras fighting to stand in the doorway. The one dressed like normal Sakura started trying to pull the other out of the way, and other tried to grip the door pane, however eventually, the first Sakura succeeded in pulling her away and getting to Naruto, only to be tackled down by the other. The one on top smiled brightly.

"Hi Naruto!"

"Uhhh, Sakura?"

The one on the bottom promptly sat up, knocking the other of of her onto the floor. A blonde woman came to investigate the commotion.

"Sakura! Sayuri! What are you doing?"

The two girls glared at each other. Sakura stood and brushed off her navy skirt.

"Naruto, this is my mother Mebuki, and this is my twin sister Sayuri."

"You have a twin?"

Sayuri smiled brightly, she looked identical to Sakura with her green eyes, pink hair and bangs, however she styled her hair so that it curled up a little at the end, like her mother. She wore a sleeveless navy dress.

"You've never mentioned a twin before..."

Sakura shrugged, "Doesn't come up very often. She didn't pass the genin exam til the year after us, and she was in a different class at school."

"She just doesn't like to talk about me," Sayuri said with a giggle, before lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "It's because I'm prettier."

"We're identical you moron!" Sakura said with a growl.

Mebuki allowed Naruto into the Haruno home. They stepped into the living room to see what appeared to be a giant cherry blossom reading a newspaper. The flower turned, to reveal a face with kind green eyes. He stood to introduce himself.

"Naruto! I'm Kizashi, and welcome to our humble family abode!"

"Whats an abode?" A small voice said from behind Kizashi. The man turned to reveal a small blonde girl. She had bangs like her mother, but swept them more towards the right side of her face and her eyes, while were a light blue like Mebuki's. Sakura smiled, "Naruto, this is my younger sister, Kameko."

Kizashi ruffled her hair and explained that the word abode meant a home, while Sakura motioned for Naruto to follow her outside into the backyard.

"There's one last person to meet! Naruto, I present my older brother, Toshiro."

The Toshiro in question was taking a nap in a patio chair. He was a perfect male version of Mebuki, without the long hair. He wore the standard Chunin uniform. Sakura shook him awake.

"Toshiro, this is Naruto."

Toshiro groggily looked at Naruto through his own green eyes, and yawned. "Naruto, eh?"

"The one and only!"

Toshiro raised his hand up for Naruto to shake, while rubbing his temples with the other hand. "That Kameko is something else Sakura, I think she actually used jutsu to put me to sleep."

Sakura rolled her eyes at her elder brother's rudeness. "You're working her too hard Toshiro, she already knows the skills she needs to pass the Genin exam!"

Toshiro waved his hand at his sister in dismissal and went into the kitchen to raid the fridge. Sakura shrugged and turned to Naruto. "What do you think? Crazy?"

Naruto pouted. "You never mentioned siblings."

Sakura softened. "You and Sasuke were orphans. Sasuke found the subject of brothers touchy in general, and I didn't want to rub in the fact I have a family."

Naruto gave her a smile, "You're forgiven, Sakura-chan."

Later, Naruto and the Haruno family sat at the dinner table, waiting for Sayuri and Mebuki to bring out the food. It was a little awkwardly silent, as nobody said a word. Kameko stared at Naruto.

"Kameko, it's not polite to stare," Sakura hissed.

"Ah, Sakura, leave her be," Toshiro said, batting a hand. The Haruno boy turned to Naruto. "So, Naruto, are you sleeping with my sister?"

Naruto, who had been sipping some water, immediately started to cough. Sakura shot a glare at Toshiro before smacking a choking Naruto's back. When he'd been restored, he had the table's full attention. Naruto could see Kizashi and Toshiro looking at him interestedly.

"N-no, I am not. Frankly, Sakura would probably kill me if I tried that."

Both the Haruno men laughed. Toshiro rolled his eyes. "That's Sakura, prudish as ever."

Right as Sakura was about to retort, Sayuri burst into the dining room with a tray full of side dishes, followed by Mebuki who carried the rest.

Kameko rubbed her hands together excitedly. "It's about damn time!"

Mebuki gasped at her 12 year old daughter's language. "Kameko! I'd wash your mouth out with soap if it weren't for our guest!"

Sayuri giggled. "She's been training too much with Toshiro," she said in a singsong voice, almost delighted at her family antics.

Sakura began to rub her temples exasperatedly. As the other Harunos joined the table, Kizashi, looked at Naruto all while piling food on his plate.

"So Uzumaki, eh? Are you by chance related to a Kushina Uzumaki?"

"She was my mother," Naruto said, a little stunned. Mebuki gave him a smile.

"She was a good friend of mine. Not quite best friends, as she and Mikoto Uchiha were inseparable, but I knew her pretty well."

"Wow, do you have any stories?" Naruto asked excitedly, being a little curious about his parents now that he knew their identities.

Mebuki scratched her head, "Hmm, well one time she watched Toshiro while she was pregnant. She asked to, she said she wanted experience with a little boy but Itachi Uchiha was too polite. She said, 'Any child of mine will be a rambunctious monster, ttebane!' Later, I got Toshiro back, and during his bath I actually pulled some of her hair out of his toes!"

Naruto hung on to every word, entranced by the stories the Harunos had to tell about his mother. They also told funny stories about their children, one involving a young Sakura and her fondness for strawberries as a child. According to her father, she ate "nearly a ton" in his words and later threw them up all over herself and Sayuri during her nap, staining some fancy new clothes . Naruto felt that the stories, albeit sometimes disgusting, were quite funny.

Toshiro was the first to rise from the table, claiming he needed to go to his apartment and rest for tomorrow's mission. After being reprimanded by Mebuki, he said goodbye to Naruto, saying "Bye, Naruto! Hope you get it in there someday!"

Sakura was not happy, to say the very least.

It was long passed dinner time when Naruto finally left the Haruno home. Sakura's family scared him a little. Her parents were friendly, and Mebuki did seem very Sakura-esque. Her brother seemed very sarcastic, with the little girl a seeming chip off the old block. Sayuri seemed mysteriously carefree to have even shared the same womb with the ever-practical Sakura.

Despite his thoughts, Naruto hoped his future

family was as happy and dysfunctional as theirs.

* * *

The next morning, Naruto was awakened by a curt knock at his apartment door. The blonde rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and opened the door to reveal Shizune.

"Ne, Shizune, it's too early, what's going on?"

Shizune rolled her eyes at his morning grumpiness, and smiled. "Naruto, Tsunade-sama has caught up on paperwork and is reviewing your rank today! I think you might be looking forward to a promotion!"

Instantly, Naruto dashed away from the door and ran to get dressed. Shizune blinked. "That was really fast..."

"I'll say," said a voice from behind her. Moving fast, Shizune whipped around to see Kakashi sitting in a hallway window, reading his pervert book.

"Kakashi, you startled me! What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was supposed to tell him, but I suppose you beat me."

"Or you're really late..." Shizune said, with a slight blush.

"A poor old woman needed help with her groceries. You wouldn't have me neglect the needs of the citizens, would you?"

Before Shizune could call Kakashi's bluff, Naruto emerged fully dressed.

"Ready, Shizune! Oh, hey Kakashi-sensei, what are you doing here?"

"Just walking you to your meeting, Naruto. Maybe we could get breakfast, after your promotion naturally."

"Sounds great!"

The trio hopped out the window, and started hopping rooftops towards the Hokage building, with Naruto hopping the fastest towards his rightfully deserved promotion.

* * *

A/N: Fin! Thank you for reading! Please be kind and leave a review, be it a suggestion, critique or praise and adoration lol! ;)

Next time, we'll see if Naruto gains a promotion, and how will Tsunade take Karin's big news?

Have a lovely day!

-MyHikari


	7. Chapter 7

Blood is Thicker Chapter 7

A/N: Welcome to the newest installment of Blood is Thicker! Thanks to everyone who faved and followed!

Stallion6: I figured Naruto would be itching to hear about his parents, and I figured it'd be ironic if Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura's moms we're friends. ;)

: Unfortunate, but thanks for your honesty.

Katalyst's Inferno: Sayuri is somewhat carefree, yes. ;) She's pretty different from her sister!

Guest: Like I said, it was written a long time ago. However strange it appears, I just couldn't bring myself to scrap her, after doing so much retooling to the original format. And yeah, you bring up important points but I'm counting on the fact that Sayuri was a year behind, while Team 7 ran all their missions. Even in the academy he was out of class too often to notice I'd bet. And lastly, even when Naruto returned from his trip he was off on quite a few missions, presumably spending a lot of time with Sakura, and by that point Sayuri would be going on missions too. So even if you find it improbable it's possible they might have never crossed paths. I wasn't trying to be "creative". I just liked the idea.

Starfire201: I wanted to give her a family that was sort of believable but still amusing. And yes, to an extent it does sort of feed his curiosity . Good connection!

charles cdv: Thank you!

* * *

Tsunade was peacefully sipping her morning tea. She enjoyed having tea in the morning, as she had not yet begun her paperwork and therefore was devoid of headache. When the headaches started, that's when the sake got busted out.

Her morning peace was quickly interrupted by Naruto practically flying through her window, Kakashi following him, and Shizune carefully following them in.

"Naruto, how many times have I told you not to do that?" Tsunade said with a glare. Shizune moved to placate her boss.

"He's just excited, Tsunade-sama!"

Tsunade sighed, and contained herself. "Naruto, however much I don't like it when you come in through the window, I have to admit, you helped out a great deal in the war. And what's even more remarkable is that you're only a Genin, so after much consideration I've decided you're worthy of the rank of Jonin. You're lacking in Genjutsu, however you are highly proficient in Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Senjutsu, strategy, and your tailed beast mode. You have defeated many legendary opponents, so I'm going by my rule: never bet against Naruto."

Naruto smiled, and couldn't contain his joy. He bumrushed Tsunade and hugged her tightly right where she sat. The Hokage hugged him back, and showing little of her soft side, whispered to him, "I'm so proud of you."

Naruto stood and turned to Kakashi. "We're the same rank now, Sensei!"

Kakashi patted the newly appointed Jonin's head. "Yes Naruto, but where I lack in youth I make up for in experience."

Tsunade couldn't help but notice Shizune's flustered expression. She smirked, and continued to address Naruto. "Kakashi is absolutely right. Therefore, I'm gonna start you slow. Train with the other Jonin, go on a few missions, and then I'll give you a Genin team. I know you have taken out high-level targets, but I want to make sure you're developing into an even better ninja."

Naruto was getting antsy at that point, and Tsunade waved him away with a smile. He gleefully, ran out of the office, and practically flew towards the hospital, zooming up to Sakura's floor. He stopped at the nurses station, and stood in front of Ami, who was nonchalantly entering patient information into the computer.

"Excuse me, where's Sakura?"

Ami looked at him briefly, then did a double take , realizing who he was. She gave him her full attention, complete with a cheshire cat grin and hair twirling.

"She's with a patient, is there anything I can do for you?"

"Uhh, can I wait in her office?"

Ami giggled, "You could always wait with me! She might be a while."

Naruto scratched his head, "Uhh, I think I'll just wait in her office, thanks."

Ami frowned as Naruto turned to go wait, and resignedly went back to her computer.

Naruto settled in Sakura's office chair and looked around. There was a picture of the new Team Kakashi, sitting on the desk. In her drawers were files mostly, but in one drawer there was a bit of candy hidden. The walls were a peachy color, making the room seem bright.

When he heard Sakura approach the door, he rushed out, picked her up and kissed her. They continued to kiss until an "ahem" brought the two out of their stupor. Seeing Ino and Karin, Naruto slowly set down Sakura and smiled sheepishly.

"I'm a Jonin now."

Ino grinned at Naruto. "So Sakura, I believe you neglected to mention something..."

Sakura blushed, and muttered "it wasn't a secret, Pig..." She turned to Naruto. "Congratulations on making Jonin. I knew you would!"

Ino nodded excitedly, "We should have a party to celebrate!"

While Sakura and Ino plotted out celebration plans, Naruto smiled at Karin.

"How are you doing?"

She looked down, and Naruto noticed she seemed slightly tired. "As good as I can be, I suppose. Tsunade has been keeping me busy."

Sakura turned to Karin. "When are you going to tell her?" she asked, in a serious tone.

Karin sighed. "As soon as I can, really. If I delay it, I'm sure she'd figure it out on her own anyhow. She's a sharp lady." Instinctively, her hand brushed over her stomach a little protectively. Naruto nodded.

"She isn't keen on lies either," he said in a serious tone.

Looking around, Sakura opened her office door, allowing the 3 others in it. She closed the door behind her, and leaned against it. "We don't want others to hear."

Ino sat on top of Sakura's desk, keeping her arms crossed. Naruto noticed some candy in her lab coat pocket.

"Ino, done with dieting are we?"

Ino looked down at the candy, realizing what he was talking about. "Ohhh, no Naruto the candy isn't for me, I did a shift in Pediatrics today. And no, you can't have any!" she said, sticking out her tongue. Karin huffed.

"Can we get to the issue at hand?"

Sakura nodded, "Yeah... What are we gonna do? Tsunade-sama needs to know. It might be best for the protection of the child."

"Are you implying giving it up?" Karin asked, defensively wrapping her arms around her torso.

Sakura shook her head. "No, that would be dangerous. The child would not understand their powers if the sharingan were to be unlocked."

Naruto paced around the room with a grim expression. "You're going to keep him, and I'll fight Tsunade on it. It's Sasuke's child!"

Ino brushed her bangs behind her ear. "There's another problem though. We also have to make sure that Sasuke's child doesn't end up like Sasuke."

Karin nodded, and stood up herself. "I...I agree..."

Sakura sighed. "Why don't we tell Tsunade together?"

All but Ino nodded. The blonde Kunoichi smiled, "I think this is more for Team 7 actually. I have some patients I can check up on, so I'm going to sit this one out." She stood, then added "Figuratively, of course."

Sakura let Ino out of her office, and then motioned for the others to follow her out as well.

* * *

The hospital wasn't very far from the Hokage building, as during the numerous rebuilds, Tsunade insisted they were close, with other medical clinics scattered around the village in case it were attacked. Usually, however, the medical clinics were open to Konoha residents who lived near them for trivial things that didn't really require hospital visits.

When Shizune saw Sakura, Naruto and Karin approach, she smiled amiably and hoisted up some heavy scrolls. "Oh your timing is lovely! I need someone to go file these and I can't quite seem to escape my desk!"

Sakura and Naruto exchanged grim looks, greatly confusing the poor assistant.

"What's wrong?"

Sakura took Shizune's scrolls and gave her a reassuring smile. "I'll take these for you. Naruto, I'll join you and Karin as soon as I can." With that, Sakura took off towards the appropriate file room. Naruto scratched his head.

"We need to see Baa-chan, please."

Sensing the serious tone, Shizune nodded and motioned for them to enter her office.

Naruto barged in, as usual, with Karin meekly following him. Tsunade looked up from whatever she was writing an smiled, obviously happy for the distraction. She put her pen down, and focused on Naruto.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Naruto?"

He took a deep breath. "Karin needs to tell you something important."

She glared at him. "Nice!"

"Hey, it's your news!"

Karin sighed. "Lady Tsunade, I'm pregnant... With Sasuke's child."

The color on Tsunade's face drained, and she appeared to be speechless. She turned towards her window, and remained silent for a few moments. No one dared to speak.

Finally turning back, her face was contorted with conflicting emotions.

"That child... Will be hated..." Tsunade slowly began. Karin lowered her head, and Naruto tensed.

After a few more moments of silence, Tsunade spoke again. "Sai... It will be Sai's child, at least until the Sharingan is unlocked. It's for the child's protection."

Naruto was about to speak, but Karin beat him. "Isn't that a bit much to ask of Sai?"

"We don't seem to have any other choices. He's your guard, he has the looks, it's believable. Uh, the council is going to have a field day with this."

"How far along?"

Karin shrugged. "Sakura and Ino don't quite have the expertise to tell me."

Tsunade frowned. "Karin, could you go tell Shizune to fetch Sai and Mebuki and then wait outside, please." The redhead nodded, and left, but not before quietly saying "Thank you."

Hearing her gratitude, the Hokage gave a small smile, before turning to Naruto.

"Naruto, you must promise me that you will protect this child. He mustn't be allowed to follow in Sasuke's footsteps, or they'll be doomed to be trapped in the cycle of revenge and hate."

Naruto nodded. "The least I can do is protect Sasuke's child, even if I couldn't save his father."

"If something happens to Sai or Karin, you or Sakura need to be there to protect him."

"Isn't this unfair to Sai?" Naruto asked, worried for his friend.

Tsunade sighed. "Yes, but I'm not asking him to marry her or even stay with her when his guardian mission is over. I'm only asking that he say he is the father."

"What about the kid? Doesn't he have a right to know who his real father is?" Naruto said adamantly. Tsunade frowned.

"I suppose that is either up to Karin's discretion or whenever they unlock the Sharingan."

There was a knock at the door that brought the two out of their stupor. The door opened slightly to reveal Mebuki. Tsunade put on a smile.

"Ah yes, Mebuki, come in! Naruto, you're dismissed."

Naruto left the office, and stepped outside to see Sakura sitting with Karin, and Sai nonchalantly waiting his turn to see the Hokage. Sakura stood at the sight of Naruto, and looked at him. He eyed Sai briefly, and then took Sakura around the corner of the hallway, ignoring Karin's quizzical looks.

"What'd she say? Karin wouldn't tell me a thing."

"Sai has to pretend to be the father."

Sakura eyed a passing secretary, and lowered her voice. "What about the special 'talent'?"

"Revealed to him at Karin's discretion, that's what Tsunade said. She also said we have to watch over the kid, make sure it doesn't end up like his old man."

Sakura nodded solemnly. "Like that wasn't what we were going to do to begin with... Maybe Karin will let us be the godparents?"

Naruto gave her a small, sad smile. "Who else does she have to choose? We've already sworn to protect his future with our lives."

* * *

A/N: Aaaaaand dramatic ending! If you've gotten to the end, I'd like to thank you for reading! Please be kind and leave a review with your thoughts! It make my day to read them! ;)

Next time on Blood is Thicker, Sai muddles with his newest assignment and the Hyuuga clan makes a decision regarding the future of their clan!

Til next time!

-MyHikari


	8. Chapter 8

Blood is Thicker Chapter 8

A/N: Sorry for the wait everyone! I've been terribly busy, having a vacation, then getting sick, and then doing my AP homework before school starts, then being in , I'm a procrastinator when it comes to school... Now that I'm sick again I decided now or never! Thank you to everybody who faved and followed! Please read and I hope you enjoy! Be kind, leave a review!

Katalyst's Inferno: I imagine it could get very humorous at times! ;)

Death by manga: Well, you'll just have to wait and see now won't you? Thanks for the review! ;)

Starfire201: She'll need to tread on careful ground for sure!

Sai ran his hands through his hair in an irritated fashion. He noticed he seemed to do that whenever he was uneasy or unhappy. He guessed he was one step closer to normal if he'd been picking up habits.

He guessed the use of his new habit was in response to the Hokage's assignment. He had to pretend to be the father of Karin's child, which he doubted he would enjoy. He could say he was the father, sure, but actually be a father figure to a child? He couldn't even act like a normal person, and he'd certainly never had a father. He had a brother once, but that wasn't the same.

The only word he could use to describe it was "scared". Sai didn't think he'd ever been scared before. He knew he didn't have to raise the child, but he honestly didn't even know what he was going to do at this point. What if he became attached to him? What if the child hated him?

And what about when the truth comes out? Would the child hate him? Would he be angered that he was lied to?

Sai got up from his bed, and moved to a cabinet that contained art supplies. Reaching into it, he felt the familiar touch of fresh paper, and pulled it out. In his mind, unused paper begged to be marked and made its own. Moving back to his bed with a paper and some pens, he began to work out his frustration in the only way he knew how: art.

He wasn't one to train when upset like Naruto. He was trained that emotions interfered with ones ability, and so he was always calm and precise when he trained.

He wasn't one to lash out like Sakura, either. He never quite understood why she did that, but he supposed maybe it was her way of making people understand they hurt her.

A little later, Sai looked at the results of his drawing. He decided to draw what had him on edge, Sasuke. In Sai's mind, Sasuke was the root of his problem.

He was always compared to Sasuke. Sai didn't quite like that. There's a lot of things that he and Sasuke don't have in common.

And he was assigned his new mission because of his similarity to Sasuke.

Sai didn't even know Sasuke in a familiar sense, and yet the guy still caused problems in his life.

Hinata examined herself in the mirror. The navy kimono she wore matched her hair, and her baby blue obi gave it a pop of color. Her hair was put up by a kind maid she was rather fond of. A knock at her bedroom floor brought her out of her trance, and she opened it to see Neji.

"Hinata, Gaara is here."

Hinata nodded, and quickly followed him out the door into the sitting room in which Gaara proposed. The redhead Kazekage was sitting there waiting for her.

"Gaara-sama, you're here. Where's Temari-san?"

He turned to her. "Please, call me Gaara," he said quietly before continuing. "Temari is coming later, with that Nara man."

Hinata nodded, and motioned for him to follow her into a great dinner hall, set up for a party.

"I hope you find the arrangement suitable?" Hinata asked Gaara, who was examining a floral arrangement.

"Well since you agreed to have the wedding in Suna, the least I can do is let the engagement party be in Konoha."

Hinata smiled and nodded, "Ino did the flowers. I'd like to hire her for the wedding." Gaara nodded. "Flowers are scarce in Suna."

The pair tweaked the arrangements here and there, and soon guests started to arrive. All of the guests were from Konoha, except Gaara and Temari. However, none knew the true reason for their being there.

Gaara observed as Hinata happily chatted with Ino, before getting surprise hugged from behind by Kiba. The Inuzuka male smiled at Hinata, revealing his large canines.

"What's the fancy party for Hinata?" he asked excitedly.

"Yeah, this is pretty fancy for a victory celebration," Ino chimed in.

Hinata laughed nervously, looking at Gaara briefly as if asking for support, before managing to stammer out a "you'll see."

"I wonder what your surprise is, Hinata. I can't really think of anything that comes to mind, other than you becoming clan leader!" Kiba said happily. Ino smacked his arm.

"Clan business is private and shouldn't be speculated about. You of all people should know this!"

Kiba eyed her with a confused look on his face. "I'm surprised to hear that from you, Konoha's Number One Gossip Queen."

Hinata, sensing that Kiba was treading dangerous waters nervously escaped towards Gaara, who was talking with Naruto. Seeing the blonde, who had Sakura standing with him, she nearly turned around in panic, seeing her past and future interact, but she saw Tenten walk towards Neji and latched onto the brunette's arm.

"Oh hey, Hinata! Lovely party!" Tenten said with a warm smile. "Neji wouldn't tell me the occasion."

"It's a bit of a surprise I'm afraid," Hinata said, now walking normally beside her cousin's teammate. Neji saw them approach and headed towards them, closing the distance.

"Everybody seems to be here," he remarked.

Hinata couldn't help peeking in Naruto and Sakura's direction. "Yes, everyone. Good." She took a deep breath, and steeled her resolve before heading towards Gaara, still happily chatting with the pair. Tenten raised an eyebrow at her antics, before turning to Neji.

"I wonder what got into her?"

Hinata approached Gaara, tapped him on the shoulder and said "It's time!" quickly before heading in the direction of a small stage, practically running. Naruto and Sakura exchanged a knowing glance, as Gaara gave them a polite nod an followed his fiancée.

Hinata tapped the mic, getting everyone's attention. The crowd of guests turned to look at her, and in the front Temari gave her a reassuring smile and a thumbs up. Starting meekly, but building strength she said, "As many of you know, the Kazekage, Gaara-sama is visiting Konoha currently. I would like to welcome him to the stage, as we have an announcement to make." She paused, seeing the confused looks of the Hyuuga elders, who had mostly mingled amongst each other during the party.

Gaara took the microphone, and with resolve stated, "Hinata and I are getting married." With this, much of the crowd reacted in different ways. The pair watched as Temari beamed, Tenten turned confusedly to Neji, Naruto and Sakura exchanged concerned looks, and the elders contemplated what that would mean for the clan. However, Hinata looked for an additional person. The reaction of Kiba, who had still been bantering with Ino, but now seemed quite angry. Gaara continued.

"Many of you may feel it is quite sudden, however, we both feel this is best for us. Thank you." The redhead left the stage, and Hinata followed, her eyes following Kiba as he left the room. The couple were soon pummeled by people wishing them congratulations and a happy engagement.

Kiba couldn't believe his ears. Hinata? Marrying that guy? He was supposed to have had a chance, now that the object of her affection was unattainable. Had she resigned herself that she wasn't to have Naruto and decided to say yes to any Kin, Satoshi or Akio who asked to marry her? She was supposed to realize they could be something.

Kiba ran his hands through his unruly hair, and sighed leaning against the balcony, looking at the happily twinkling stars, who were unbothered by his worldly troubles.

The Inuzuka stayed there lamenting for a long time, but eventually decided to go face the music. He stood up straight, made sure his looks were in order and left his anger out on the balcony.

Making his way back to the room, he decided to slip into the line waiting to get their dinner from the buffet, that was undoubtedly rolled out by the Hyuuga's employees. Kiba slipped into the line with the first person he recognized, a blonde in a blue cocktail dress.

"Hey, Ino."

Ino looked at her friend with a funny look. "Where'd you go?" Kiba tried to be nonchalant.

"Just needed some air."

Ino shrugged, before getting a mischievous look on her face. "Well, because you used me to get ahead in line, now you have to sit with me and listen to me talk."

So Kiba sat with Ino. And she talked a lot.

Naruto meandered some hours later out of the party, Sakura in hand.

"Some party."

Sakura nodded. "Good food. It was pretty amusing how the elders acted though when Gaara made the announcements. They practically jumped for joy."

"Speaking of Gaara's speech, I know he's a man of little words but wow that was snappy."

"Might be smarter though, considering all the reactions."

"True! They practically mobbed the two!" Sakura giggled in response to Naruto's statement, and the two stopped walking for a moment, now outside Hinata's home. The moon was a little crescent of a moon, and it gave little light, but the colorful lanterns that lead the way to the party added a soft, romantic light.

Naruto leaned in, his forehead touching her, and Sakura smiled at him cutely. They finally leaned in and kissed, for a just a moment. After pulling away, Sakura wrapped her arms around his torso, and snuggled close for a hug. She peered up at him, blinking a few times. "You're it."

Naruto was confused, and lifted her face up to see his. "Huh?"

Sakura smiled gently then, out of nowhere, she ran away from him, occasionally looking back with an impish grin.

Naruto muttered something to himself along the lines of her being 'such a tease.' and chased after her calling out, "Ready or not, here I come!"

A/N: Don't know where that last part came from, sounds like something i'd do to my bf! Again, sorry for the wait. I guess being sickly has its perks after all.

Next time on Blood is Thicker, Naruto has his first Jonin mission!

Night kiddies!

-MyHikari


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

A/N: I'm back kiddies! Thank you to everybody who faved, followed and reviewed. You're all so kind! I hope you like the next installment!

Death by manga: Thank you for your kind words! I like to keep things light hearted, re-reading the story has been like "oh sweet baby Jesus this is serious stuff!" And one has to remember that even though there is all these mature themes, they are only 16-17 years old.

Stallion6: I felt bad giving Kiba such a cruel awakening, but meh, he'll go on to bigger and better things.

Celestia's Paladin: Thanks for your honesty. I admit, it may not be epic per se, but I like that it's character driven. Also, one cannot go from 0 to epic so soon after the war! There's no reason for conflict yet!

Keeper of Worlds: Thank you for your kind words! I worry it's too fast paced, but thank you for your assurance! I did not mean to let it sit for so long, however, Chapter 8's ending was particularly bothersome. It changed at least 3 times. I hope this is fast enough!

Starfire201: Alas, poor Kiba has to move on I'm afraid. And I tried to give a sense that Hinata knew about Kiba's affections but never quite felt the same. Perhaps I failed. And yes, poor poor Sai.

Anoni Mos: wow, you really made my day. Thank you so much! I'm happy to know you enjoy it :) And yes, Sasuke is very much dead. I found it the easiest resolution to his story.

* * *

Naruto sat on Sakura's window sill, an softly hit the glass with his knuckle, peering into her room. It was illuminated by the soft light of dawn, giving everything an orangey tint, even Sakura's hair. The Kunoichi sat up and saw Naruto at the window. Lifting an eyebrow, she approached and opened it, before whispering "what are you doing here?"

Naruto smiled. "When I got home last night there were orders for my first Jonin mission waiting for me. I have to leave soon, and I wanted to say goodbye."

Sakura's expression softened, and she brushed some of her bedhead behind her ear. "How long will you be away?" Naruto shrugged. "I'm not sure."

Sakura pouted a bit. "I'll miss you." The blonde nodded, "I'll miss you too." He then gave her a brief kiss, said "I'll find you as soon as I'm home", gave her a longer, sweeter goodbye kiss and leapt off, leaving the Haruno girl standing at her open window.

When Naruto finally arrived at the front gate, Neji was already waiting there. Naruto stood next to him and whispered,"who are we waiting for?"

Neji rolled his eyes. "Shikamaru. Honestly, I expected you to be the late one."

"Thanks for the appreciation," Naruto deadpanned.

The two waited another five minutes before Shikamaru strolled up, some hair astray, and a suspicious mark on his neck.

"What took you Shikamaru?" Neji asked, a little angry at his tardiness. Before Shikamaru could respond, Naruto interjected. "Is that a hickey?"

Shikamaru appeared rather flustered, and muttered something about needing to find the mission brief in his bag, and rifling through it to change the subject. The tension built in silence, and soon Naruto could not contain his laughter.

"Shikamaru did you get it on with Temari?" the blonde asked between laughs.

Shikamaru glared at him. Even Neji joined in, saying "I hope you used protection."

Shikamaru just walked past the two. "We'll brief on the way there, let's just get the hell outta here." Naruto and Neji followed, snickering.

Later, the Nara man had finally calmed down, and started briefing on their mission, while they flew from tree to tree. "If you guys thought this would be a short mission, then you probably didn't do your homework."

Naruto gulped.

"It will take a week to get there, plus however long the mission takes, and then another week back." Shikamaru stated, rolling his eyes, muttering "troublesome" under his breath.

"Where are we even going?!" Naruto asked.

"We are heading to a village known as Ryugakure, nestled in a land between the land of Earth and the land of Wind," Neji interjected.

"And why are we going there?"

It was Shikamaru's turn to answer. "Basically, most of the small nations did not participate in this last war. However, we have never really communicated with Ryu before, we never really had a reason to. Tsunade has decided to open up channels of communication since we have a recently attractive time of peace."

He continued, "After the war, we aren't quite certain where alliances may truly lie, even if they're solid on paper. Hopefully extending a hand to a smaller nation will be viewed favorably, however if I were to guess Tsunade is just guilty about Konoha's involvement with Nagato. Konoha ninja killed his parents, and then he was basically Jiraiya's protege."

Neji nodded. "That makes sense. Jiraiya-sama seems to be a tender point for Tsunade-sama."

Naruto remained silent. Jiraiya was a tender point for him, too.

* * *

The rest of the week passed relatively uneventful for the three Konoha nin. There was a spat when Shikamaru labeled himself the brains, Neji the brawn, and Naruto the unknowing persuasive genius. Naruto liked to think he was rather brawny as well.

Eventually the group reached the Land of Scorched Earth, which housed Ryugakure. The terrain wasn't sandy like the Land of Wind, but it didn't have the vast mountains and forests like the Land of Earth. Instead, the Land of Scorched Earth was arid and rocky.

The part of the land they were traveling through was flat, and allowed quick travel. Mountains could be seen in the distance, however.

Before too long, the group saw a gated village in the horizon, and started moving faster. This part of the land had more vegetation, but it still contrasted with the fertile lands of the Land of Fire. There were three guards posted in a kiosk next the gate, with a bright red awning hanging over providing shade. Shikamaru approached the three, who seemed to be their age, but without the burdens of having been in war aging them. Before Shikamaru could get a word out, one of the guards, a girl with navy hair in a braid, and light blue eyes excitedly asked, "Oh my gosh, are you foreigners?!"

"Yes, we are ninja from Konohagakure wishing to check in for diplomatic purposes." Shikamaru stated, causing the girl to squeal.

"Leaf ninja, oh my gosh, that's so cool! My name is Hoshi, how can I-" the Hoshi said, before her teammate butted in. The girl had platinum blonde hair in a bob haircut that started at the top of her neck and grew longer towards the front stopping at her chin. Her bangs were on the longer side as well, her gray eyes nearly peeking out from underneath.

"I apologize for Hoshi, our village isn't used to visitors. To enter, please sign in." the second girl said before pointing to the third guard, who had a clipboard.

"Names here, please." the only male on the team stated. He had black hair and brown eyes.

The Konoha team signed in, and the blonde girl went off to find them a guide. Hoshi talked at the three, speaking quickly and excitedly.

"Welcome to Ryugakure! We're super excited to have you all here, my name is Hoshi Mizushima, that other girl was Nozomi Yukinawa and that stud over there is Daisuke Yamamoto."

At that, seeing the the stoic Daisuke, Naruto sighed inwardly. Hoshi continued her chatter.

"Nozomi went off to find our sensei, Miyako Hoshiyama."

It seemed Nozomi couldn't return fast enough. The sensei to the excited Chunin was a tall and severe looking woman, with long blonde hair and brown eyes. She wore a dress in a seafoam color, underneath a black flak jacket, which the Chunin wore as well.

"Hoshi, these ninja are here for their mission, not to hear your incessant chatter. Excuse me gentlemen, if you would just follow me, I shall take you to the leader of our village."

"Sounds great," Neji said, lifting up his bag and eyeing Hoshi warily.

"Good-bye, ninja-San!" Hoshi called to the group as the entered the village gates.

"I apologize for Hoshi's antics," Miyako said. "She gets it from her father."

The Jonin woman led them to the center of the village, to the largest building. Inside it was very open with a large central lobby. They were led up a staircase to the second floor. The council room finally arrived, and the Ryu Jonin opened the door to reveal a table that curved in the shape of a crescent moon, with several people seated around it.

Miyako approached the center seated person, a woman with orange hair that contrasted with her teal turtleneck. The blonde woman turned back to Shikamaru. "I present our leader, Nakina Takeshi."

"Thank you Miyako, you're dismissed." Nakina said, before continuing. "So you're the envoy from the Hidden Leaf I presume?"

Shikamaru nodded. "We're here to start some alliance talks between our villages, and open up communication channels."

"Well we're a polite group, so allow me to introduce our council, Eiji Takeshi is our head of the Takeshi clan, he's that old guy with the gray hair. Mitake Takeshi is the head medic, she's the one with all that blonde hair. Hibiki is that guy with the graying brown hair, he's the Civilian Rep. The woman with the brown hair is Kirika Takeshi, our Head of Education. The young twenty-something with red hair is Toru Uzumi, he replaced our recently deceased head of ANBU, and last but not least the man with blue hair is Masanori Mizushima, our head Jonin."

Shikamaru smirked. "There certainly are a lot of Takeshi clan members in this council."

The old man Eiji huffed. "We are the largest clan in the village, with a large percentage of the population!"

Nakina nodded. "It is undoubtedly true. However some are Takeshi by marriage, such as myself and Kirika, who is married to Mitake's brother Takeo."

Shikamaru nodded and began his own introductions. "I'm Shikamaru Nara, on my left is Neji Hyuuga, and the blonde is Naruto Uzumaki."

The young ANBU head, Toru gave Naruto a look. "Uzumaki?"

"What's it to you?" Naruto asked, in a suspicious tone, sizing up the other man.

Toru balked, "Nothing, we've just simply heard a lot about your place in ending the war."

Nakina, sensing the tension, stood. "Ok, I think we're ready to begin our discussion!"

* * *

A/N: May seem boring, I apologize, but the fictional Ryugakure is my baby. And I wanted to set up and introduce it!

It's role has changed numerous times throughout my conceptualization however, I think this fits rather nicely.

Til next time!

Read & review please!

-MyHikari


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

A/N: Hey peeps, I'm back. I apologize for these waits but my AP World History class is kicking my butt! On the plus side, it gives me ideas on how society works!

Stallion6: No, that seemed a tad to hard to pull off. She's got a completely new story.

Death by Manga: Well I'm sorry you feel that way, however, some chapters have to do their duty so to speak. (Ha, duty)

Sortofbored: Thank you!

* * *

Naruto looked out of his hotel room at the bustling street of this new village below him. Ryugakure was different from Konoha. It was a smaller village, in a difficult climate, and the fact they struggled a bit with food and support from large nations was apparent.

They were trying to strengthen their ninja core, on hopes to attract that vital large village support, and money as well. Ryugakure could use some money. The civilians were mostly farmers, and their clothing was old. Everyone was looked after, and everybody had what they needed, some of it was simply more worn with wear for some.

Naruto watched as a civilian woman hung up a blanket with a patch on it. Her hair was pulled back simply in a ponytail, and her purple kimono was worn in a bit at the elbows. He remembered the Head of Education on the council, Kirika, had her ash-blonde hair in an elaborate bun and had newer clothes. In fact, the council appeared rather well off, particularly the Takeshi.

However, Naruto noted that didn't mean that they didn't care. While an alliance with Konoha would give them the support of a village they desired, they wanted to develop, and asked for help training their nin and medics, even going as far to ask for trading contracts that would bring their area money.

Shikamaru decided that the smart thing to do would be to send a bird back to Konoha and ask. Though the Nara later wondered aloud to Neji and Naruto why they hadn't simply approached Iwa about these things.

"They could simply be trying to rebuild their numbers after the war," input Neji.

"Yeah, however everyone has lower populations. And what's a better way to increase it than in a time of prosperity?" Shikamaru wondered.

Naruto simply shrugged. "Maybe we just got around to it first?" The others dismissed that explanation as too simple, however.

* * *

Karin peeked into the maternity ward of the hospital warily, seeing about 3 couples sitting in the waiting area. She took a deep breath before entering, Sai trailing behind her silently. There was a middle aged couple, with 3 young children with them. Karin guessed they were getting a pregnancy test.

Another couple were young and fresh-faced in their early twenties. The girl's stomach was large, so Karin deduced it was her final check up.

The final couple seemed to be slightly older than the couple breeding like rabbits, and judging by the book the woman was clutching like a bible, they were seeking fertility treatments.

Wondering what the couples were in for helped pass time while Sai signed them in, and returned to her with a clipboard to fill out. The young woman with the baby due soon smiled at Karin and introduced herself. Karin smiled obligingly.

"I'm due in a week. Little boy, and we're very excited." said the woman, named Haruka, "Do you know the gender?" she asked pointing to Karin's slightly rounded stomach, barely noticeable to the civilian population. Sai put on one of his false smiles and grabbed Karin's hand, before responding.

"We don't know. We want it to be a surprise."

Karin truthfully was scared to know. She had a strange feeling it was a boy, and was mentally bracing herself for when she had to raise him.

"I'm very scared for the birth, but I'm so ready to hold my son." Haruka exclaimed excitedly.

Karin nodded politely having her own reservations about birthing, though it seemed rather far off. She never really felt suited for motherhood, but in a way did see merit in the talkative twenty-something's comment about wanting to hold her son, as she kinda wanted to hold her child too. She did worry that she would only see Sasuke, and also was uncertain the role Sai would play in the future. When his hand first grabbed hers it was weird feeling for sure, but she grew used to the warm and comfort it gave her. Karin shrugged it off as pregnancy hormones though, desiring comfort for her fragile constitution.

Karin continued to talk, but mostly listen to the young woman until her name was called. Tsunade had put Mebuki in charge of Karin's case. Sakura's mother smiled warmly as Karin and Sai entered.

"Congratulations! I'm Haruno Mebuki, and I will be your doctor up to your birth. Let's get started!"

Karin felt she was going through the motions as she answered questions. Sai's enthusiasm disappeared somewhat, and it had the strangest effect on the redhead. 'Those pregnancy hormones', she thought, 'already making me haywire.'

Mebuki turned away from her charts and started a medical jutsu. Karin laid back, recognizing the technique as one Sakura attempted to use on her before. Mebuki guided her left hand over Karin's exposed stomach, while taking notes with her right. Karin nervously watched the interesting faces the doctor made, her palms becoming a little clammy.

"Is it..ok?" Karin nervously asked. Mebuki laughed a little.

"Your child is fine. About 2 months. Too early for the sex I'm afraid."

Inwardly, Karin sighed with relief. She didn't want her strong instinct to be correct. For the first time since the waiting room, Sai spoke.

"When will we have to back?"

Karin let Sai make arrangements for the next appointment. She was tired, and wanted to go home. Or what was the closest thing to a home. She couldn't quite say she was accustomed to the bare bedroom and silent dinners, but she was grateful it, whatever it was.

On the way out of the hospital, the unlikely pair bumped into Sakura, who seemed a little frazzled, carrying a bunch of charts, and her hair amiss.

"Sakura? What's got you looking so unsightly?" Sai asked, his false smile plastered on his face. Sakura merely rolled her eyes.

"I've been in and out of surgery today."

"Have you heard from Naruto?" Karin asked, knowing Sakura had been missing him. The rosette smiled shyly.

"He snuck a note into the brief he sent back to Tsunade. It was nice to hear from him."

"We just saw your mother, Sakura." Sai informed her, "Is that what you'll like when your old?"

Karin caught sight of Sakura's glare, and decided to distract the girl. "You're just like her," she blurted. "Very kind."

Sakura was placated momentarily, and the would be couple continued onto Sai's apartment.

* * *

Hinata silently waited in Tsunade's waiting area, watching Shizune argue with Kakashi.

"I don't want to take a new Genin team!" The silver-haired man practically whined. "It won't be the same."

"You don't have many options, Kakashi," Shizune said, pinching her nose. "I really don't believe this stigma that you're doomed to have only one good team."

"Most do only have one good team..."

Hinata watched as Shizune broke down. "You'll have to discuss it with Tsunade i'm afraid. Speaking of, excuse me, Kakashi." The black haired woman turned to Hinata, "You may go in now."

Hinata nodded politely, and opened the door, hearing Kakashi make a remark about arguing over dinner, before entering.

The blonde Hokage, looked up at Hinata, a pinched look on her face. The heiress opened her mouth to ask about it, but Tsunade answered it before she could even get the words out.

"I'm reading a letter the Hyuuga Elders sent. They think in the event that you were to have a child with Byakugan, the child should be raised by the clan. That or, they seal off the gene in you completely."

"What? But why?"

"They want to keep it within the clan. Why do you think incest is so rampant?" Tsunade asked the girl, taking a swig of sake.

Hinata had honestly never thought about it. She looked up to Tsunade. "What should I do?"

Tsunade interlocked her fingers, and thought for a moment. "You could change the law."

"How do I do that?"

The busty woman took another thoughtful swig. "You're still the leader until Neji steps in. Make a decree saying you'll do whatever the hell you want with your uterus."

Hinata took in her words. It's true, while she never really thought about children with her fiancé until now, she decided that Tsunade's suggestion was the best fit for her. She nodded in response.

Tsunade smiled warmly. "Great, I'll have Shizune write it up and deliver it to the Elders so it looks all official. Now, do me a solid, go check to see of Shizune is still arguing with Kakashi."

The Hyuuga girl promptly checked, and nodded once again to the busty Hokage. Her smile got bigger. "I may win this bet, yet!"

* * *

Back in Ryugakure, Naruto looked all around him as he followed Neji and Shikamaru in the Takeshi compound, to which they'd been invited to for dinner. There were many centerpieces made of bamboo, going along with the seeming obsession of the word their clan was named after.

Nakina caught sight of them. She approached with a warm smile, a young girl trailing after her.

"Hello gentlemen, this is my daughter, Tsubaki." Tsubaki looked a lot like her mother, with wavy orange and large eyes. She smiled shyly, and appeared to be about 10.

Nakina turned to Shikamaru. "The council members and their families are hear, along with select members of the Takeshi clan." Shikamaru nodded politely, before noticing Eiji approaching. The older man had been the only one staunchly against the treaty. Nakina followed his line of eyesight.

"I'm sure I don't have to warn you that Eiji will be interrogating you three, even of you are the novelty of the party."

Naruto smiled. "I can take it."

* * *

A/N: thanks to all of you guys!

Sorry for not updating for a while, but here I am. For everybody who heard about the Newtown shooting, please keep the families, victims and children in your hearts and prayers. We won't forget them.

Til next time!


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

A/N: Alrighty folks I'm gonna try for a good one here! Thank you to everyone who faved, followed an reviewed, and I hope you all had a lovey new year.

Cloud Ex-SOLDIER: Thank you! :)

Zatheko: Thank you! :)

Death by manga: Why thank you, I sometimes worry about not having enough dialogue, but I'm glad to know that readers like all these feels.

Starfire201: They do indeed. Drama is going to unfold.

* * *

Shikamaru watched as Eiji introduced Naruto and Neji to the families of the council. Eiji himself was a widowed father of two sons, something Shikamaru noticed was a recurring pattern among the village. Nakina, Mitake, Hibiki and Eiji were all widowed with children. Toru was young, but only Masanori and Kirika had living spouses.

Shikamaru turned to Nakina, his brow furrowed. "It is understandable that ninja die, but your village seems to have a large amount of widows an orphans."

Nakina looked down. "So you've noticed. This is why we seek to have a medical training program. Eiji's wife Su, she died in childbirth. Hibiki's wife Wakana got sick, and nobody had appropriate skills to fix it. Mitake's husband and my own husband died in battle. Their wounds were too great for our novice healers. Mitake works around the clock to keep our population healthy, however, there aren't many skilled and experienced medics here."

"And why is it that there isn't any medics with enough skill?"

"During the civil war, there were two factions of people battling for control of Ryugakure. My own clan, the Byaki, and my husband Torao's clan, the Takeshi. The Byaki clan had many members who were highly skilled medics, and they constituted as most of the village's medical corp. The two clans were both large and always had a rivalry over which options were best for the village. Different clans joined different alliances. Tension built for a long time, and it finally broke out when the Takeshi leader died, and the head Byaki doctor had been accused of not doing enough to save him. Members of the Takeshi clan confronted members of the Byaki and a riot broke out, before turning into a civil war for dominance. Unfortunately, the Byaki were overpowered after awhile and the Takeshi took control. Most of our skilled doctors died, and few were spared. Of my close relatives, only myself and and my cousin Suka survived. Torao's father Masato betrothed me to his son as a sign of peace. We were only 10. Ryugakure soon moved to rebuild itself, but we no longer had many doctors, as they were mostly Byaki."

"What about your cousin and yourself?"

Nakina smiled sadly. "I don't have the healing skills which is partly why few resisted when I inherited control after Torao died. Suka does have the skill, but few trust her, so she mostly trains Tsubaki, whom I suspect did inherit it."

Shikamaru looked around. "Some pieces still don't make sense. How has your population been able to recover so quickly? And how come you've never gone to Iwa for help?"

"We allowed refugees to come here. Some have come from Mist during their own civil war such as Masanori and his wife, Yoshie. They've been here since they were children. As for Iwa, we do not go to them for the protection of some of our refugees."

"What refugees would need protection from Iwa?"

Nakina peered at Naruto for a moment, before leading Shikamaru farther away. "Despite this recent war, our intelligence is not certain if Iwa is aware that Naruto is a Namikaze. Similarly, we are trying to prevent further persecution of the Namikaze."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "As at as I am aware, Naruto is the last Namikaze."

Nakina sighed. "Technically. They changed their names. Because of Minato's actions against them after the war, Iwa tried to avenge the clan after his death in revenge. They came here, thinking that Iwa wouldn't think to find them so close to their village."

"Why have you continued to keep them then? Surely you know that you endanger your village."

"We owe them. During the war between Iwa and Konoha, Minato Namikaze once spared our village from being a battleground by singlehandedly drawing the battle away from here. Besides, the clan knows and is prepared for the possibility they will have to leave within a moment's notice."

Shikamaru nodded, before looking in Naruto's direction. "You have to tell him. If you want anything from us, you need to tell Naruto that he has living family."

Nakina stood shocked, as the Nara walked away without another word.

* * *

Sakura stood and stretched, hearing a satisfying crack along her spine she put her hands on her hips and looked down at her sparring partner, who was relaxing after their training system. Ino looked up at Sakura with a smirk. "And here I thought that you were only making out when you said you and Naruto were training."

Sakura shrugged "What can I say, I'm good enough to be able to do both."

The two girls started to walk back to the village to clean themselves up, but noticed in a different training ground that Kiba was training hard, more so than usual. Ino frowned. "I think he is upset about Hinata's engagement."

"Noo, really, I honestly hadn't noticed Ino." Sakura chimed in sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "I should think he would be upset. It was a rather sudden engagement."

Ino nodded, remaining pensive for a moment. She felt kind of bad for him actually, never having an opportunity to tell Hinata. She sympathized. Back when she liked Shikamaru, (that was ages ago), she had been sad when she saw him with Temari so much. Eventually, she got over it, but she certainly understood his feelings. Come to think of it, he was rather moody at Hinata's engagement party.

Sakura started to wave her hand in front of Ino's face, as the blonde had stopped walking all together. Ino looked up at Sakura, before making a snap decision. "Uh, sorry. Hey, I'll talk to you later, there's something i gotta do."

Sakura was confused by her best friend's antics, but decided to let Ino do whatever she needed, it's not like she wouldn't see her later anyhow.

Once Sakura left, Ino headed towards Kiba's training ground. The Inuzuka stopped fighting with his Akamaru-clone and turned around, presumably after smelling Ino's presence.

"Ino? What are you doing here?" He looked genuinely surprised to see anyone here, let alone her. She looked a tad sweaty and disheveled herself, and was probably in the neighborhood training. The blonde looked at her toes.

"Oh y'know, I was in the neighborhood. I was wondering how you were holding up?"

"Holding up? What are you talking about? I'm fine." He said it a little more forcefully than he should've, he noticed.

"Oh you know, with the whole Hinata thing. I noticed you had left the party for awhile." Ino said, trying to keep it nonchalant.

"I just needed some air," he said uncertainly. Ino looked and could tell he was getting frustrated, not to mention he was confused as to why she was talking to him.

"I.. I'm sorry, I'm just going about this the wrong way-"

"I'll say."

"I was wondering if you wanted to go to lunch?" Ino said finally, taking his comment in stride.

"Like a date?" he asked, a gloating smirk starting to appear.

"No, just to talk. About things." Ino said, hoping this wouldn't set him off.

"Look, if you think that you can fix me with your Yamanaka mind tricks Ino, I hate to tell you that it's not gonna happen. Don't think we'll go to lunch and have nice therapy session and talk it out or something."

"I didn't want any therapy, I just wanted to tell you I understand why you're going through!"

"Pffh, know what I'm going through. Please, have you ever sat by while the person you love lusted after some other guy only to get her heart broken and go off and marry the first schmuck who asked?"

"No, but I have had to watch a person I had feelings for be totally perfect for another person. Listen, I am not going to waste my time here. I'm sorry I wanted to help you."

With that, she walked away, and Kiba went back to venting his frustrations on the training ground.

* * *

Sakura sat across from Ino in the hospital cafeteria as she fumed over her lunch. She wasn't quite sure what got the blonde's panties in a bunch, but it was quite clear it had to do with her strange behavior from earlier. The rosette took a sip of tea, before looking at her friend.

"What happened?" Sakura asked, breaking the awkward silence. Ino started to rub her temples.

"Once again, I interfere too much."

"Oh? And what does that mean?"

"Sakura, if it's ok with you, I'd rather not talk about it right now."

Sakura shrugged and started to steer the conversation towards Karin's progress, today's patients and other asinine things.

Ino continued to float through the day in a pissed off mood, though it later became somewhat guilty for poking the proverbial bear. Her only reprieve was during her next break, where she settled into her office doing her paperwork, keeping her distracted from her mishap. She continued to work, periodically checking the clock, and humming a bit of a tune.

Focusing on the work kept her min free of Kiba guilt, until she got a knock at the door.

"Just a moment, Forehead."

A knock again. Ino looked up, and finally stood up from her desk before opening the door and heading to turn back to her papers.

"Ino."

She had been expecting Sakura's voice, but this was the last voice she had wanted to hear today. Her heart sank, and she slowly turned around. "Kiba."

The Inuzuka sheepishly ran his hand through his unruly brown hair, before his eyes met her own. "I came to apologize."

Ino sat on her desk, arms folded "Why? I am the one who should be apologizing."

Kiba shook his head. "I shouldn't have snapped. It's just, nobody's ever noticed whats been going on with me before."

"Oh." Ino said awkwardly, before standing up from her desk and walking a bit closer. "I just wanted to tell you I know how you feel is all. I probably shouldn't have confronted you about it though."

She looked up into his eyes, a consummate believer in eye contact. It was silent for a moment, as Ino tried to translate what was suddenly stirring in Kiba's eyes. Suddenly however Ino felt a warm hand on her face before lips met her own. Eyes still wide open with shock, she found herself kissing back despite herself. Before she could let herself unstiffen and lean in to his sudden embrace, he pulled away, with a guilty frown. "Sorry," he said in an almost panicked voice before swiftly turning around and rushing into the hallway, leaving Ino standing in her office, somewhat stupefied with a flushed face.

* * *

A/N: And that's all I wrote folks. I hope you like it. I hadn't planned to write this, but it kind of took its own turn on the pathway of life and I was all like, hey why not.

SPOILER: In memory of Neji (who I am happy to announce will not be dead in this story) I have written a oneshot called Legacy where he is in fact, dead. *shamless plug* Feel free to check it out. END SPOILER

Now, as always, leave a review, let me know what kind I feels you get from the story, suggestions, predictions, etc etc etc.

Love, MyHikari


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

A/N: Welcome back to Blood is Thicker! Hope you all haven't been missing this too badly! I had a few AP exams and preparations keeping me busy so all apologies, I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Semerald777: Thanks for the compliment! And how nice to meet a kindred spirit, haha i felt good about the ap world test though.

Minato Namikaze Uzumaki: Why thank you!

Stallion6: True! That can get confusing!

Death by manga: Why thanks for your interest!

SuomiTytt: I'm glad somebody liked Sakura having a family! I got a lot of flack for that, especially the twin. But yeah, we'll see them again don't worry.

* * *

Naruto sat impatiently in Nakina's waiting area, fiddling with a loose string on his pants. Loudly sighing, he looked towards Nakina's secretary. She was younger than Shizune, and was quietly doing paperwork. She was dressed plainly, with a black skirt and purple blouse, complete with a matching ascot and sandals. The only thing that stood out were the gold earrings that hid behind her long bangs, and the matching hairpin holding her bun in place. Naruto grinned slightly. She had some sort of suitor.

Now the mystery that was staving of Naruto's boredom was who this suitor was. For this village, it was clear that he was rich, but for her to wear them publicly, he might not have been an important figure. While he was muddling this out in his head, a voice came on over the intercom.

"Fujie, send him in please."

The diminutive secretary nodded for Naruto to enter, and happily the boy jumped to his feet and scrambled into the office. The leader of Ryu appeared to not be surprised at his antics, and merely gestured for him to be seated.

"You remind me of that silly son of Eiji's, Kamenosuke. He's my late husband's little cousin."

Naruto nodded obligingly as the woman reminisced, carelessly brushing an orange bang out of her face, behind her ear. Before she got too far into the past, Naruto interjected. "If you don't mind, why am I here without my teammates? It seems pretty weird."

Nakina nodded. "I suppose I'll have to cut to the chase won't I?" She took a moment to collect herself, as Naruto pondered what could possibly be difficult for her to say.

"Listen, Naruto, I'll be blunt. Some of your father's clan lives in this village." Nakina looked into the eyes of the boy, seeing them open wide and his eyebrows slightly furrowed. Hesitantly, she pressed on. "They didn't know you survived, in fact, I'm not sure they knew you were here. They came here to escape persecution from Iwa, choosing to hide in their own backyard under a different clan name."

Silence permeated the room, and Nakina became somewhat nervous as she eyed the boy, who was looking at his interlocked hands. He looked at her, with a small, relieved grin. "Well," he said, scratching his head, "when can I meet them?"

The leader of Ryu was a little off put by the boy's reaction, but nonetheless stood and opened her office door to speak a moment to Fujie. Coming back, she sat down, saying "They are en route as we speak."

Naruto's grin seemed to grow broader, and Nakina could feel the excitement radiating off of him. "I'm surprised, Naruto, I would have thought you to be a tad more angry in such a situation."

Naruto's face fell a little, but he stayed resolute in his happiness. "For a long time, I hoped my parents would save me from the orphanage. I made my peace with them during the war, and if my relatives didn't know I survived, they must have missed me as much as I missed them."

Nakina nodded, but suddenly was startled by a knock at the door. Naruto immediately stood, and waited while the door opened at Nakina's command. Barging in was a rambunctious 12 year old boy with gold hair and amber eyes, followed by a teenage girl, approximately 15 with rather voluminous curly hair in a blondish-light orange color, framing blue eyes.

Nakina narrowed her eyes at the boy, "Where are your parents?"

The girl, a newly minted Chunin nervously stepped in. "Ah, Nakina-sama, they are just a little behind us, in fact here they come." She shifted so that a blue-eyed blonde middle aged woman was revealed, as well as a tall man with orange hair and brown eyes. The woman smiled politely at Nakina, before turning to take a look at Naruto. Naruto watched nervously as the woman gasped and covered her hand with her mouth, desperately clutching her husband's hand.

"You, you look just like my brother. Naruto I presume?" the woman said to him, her eyes, blue like his own, sparkling with tears. All he could do was nod slowly, feeling choked up. The lady immediately pulled him into a bone-crushing hug, as the rest of the family looked on with curiosity.

The woman wiped her eyes, saying "I'm your Aunt Mana, Minato's younger sister. This is my husband Yoichi, my daughter Yumiko and my son Mitsuo. They're your cousins."

Naruto looked at them, using his ninja training to pick up as much as he could about them. Yumiko seemed reserved and calm, while Mitsuo appeared to a bit of a spitfire looking his new cousin up and down.

"You're from Konoha?" Mitsuo asked, somewhat suspiciously. Naruto took off his headband, offering it to him, saying "Yeah, I'm a ninja there."

In a flash, the boy grabbed it and was examining it with a look of awe. Mana chuckled. "He is very interested in Konoha."

"Maybe you guys could visit sometime," Naruto offered awkwardly. "It's a nice place."

Mana nodded "It's been an awfully long time since I've been there. The children have never gone, and Yoichi was born here."

"I've heard they have a good medical program," Yumiko started a bit cautiously.

Naruto nodded vigorously. "My girlfriend Sakura is a pretty well-known medical ninja. Can't you train to be a medic here?"

The girl became a little sad. "They thought I was too old for an apprenticeship, and there is only one medic who specializes in training."

"You should come to Konoha!" Naruto said excitedly, before Nakina, who had been observing the awkward family reunion interjected. "Woah woah woah, let's not get carried away here. We're still negotiating things between our villages!"

Mana chuckled. "You're a lot like your mother Naruto. I admired Kushina a lot, she was like a sister to me."

Yoichi cleared his throat. "She was technically your sister-in-law." Mana simply rolled her eyes at her husband, before turning back to Naruto. "Would you like to join us for dinner?"

* * *

Ino rose her hand up nervously to the Haruno household door, took a deep breath, and finally knocked. After waiting a moment, Sakura's brother Toshiro came into view. He lazily glanced at her, saying "Oh hey. Haven't seen you around lately."

Ino stuck her tongue out at him, sarcastically quipping, "Don't you have an apartment?"

Toshiro opened the door. "Yeah, yeah I do, but the food is better here." Ino stepped in, and was pointed up the stairs by the older boy. Ino nodded in thanks, before heading to her best friend's bedroom. Sakura shared the room with Sayuri, but luckily Sayuri was out, likely spending time with her friends. Ino sat down on Sayuri's bed, and Sakura greeted her with a wave, not looking up from the book she was studying.

"What's up, Ino?"

Ino hesitated, which must have concerned the rosette, as she looked at her. Ino began to uncharacteristically stammer around an explanation. "Well, Kiba came to see me in my office...and well he apologized, and um...um it got a little heated and then...he uh, well kissed me."

Sakura shot up to a sitting position on her bed, clearly shocked. "He kissed you? I thought he was in love with Hinata?"

"Yeah, that's what I think, but all I did was tell him I knew how he felt and suddenly his eyes changed, and he touched my face, kissed me, and ran away!"

Sakura was dumbfounded and scratched her head. "Thats super weird! What did you do?"

Ino sank down onto the bed, blushing slightly just from the memory. "I just kinda reacted I suppose... It was over before I really actually thought anything of it. I think I was starting to kiss him back, oohhh what do I do, we don't even talk to each other, Sakura! He caught me once during the war and yelled at me about Sasuke and that's like, it!"

Sakura thought for a moment. "This is a difficult situation. His feelings for Hinata certainly complicate things, and you guys barely know each other. It wouldn't be right for him to use you as a rebound either since the engagement."

Ino rubbed her temples. "This is too much, and I can't stop thinking about it. For a dog, he kissed surprisingly well."

Sakura sighed. "I don't know what to tell you. You guys could discuss it, or he might try to avoid you if he's embarrassed."

Ino nodded sadly, not quite sure why she was so conflicted with this random kiss she got. It was certainly a rousing one, the tingles she felt were undeniable, but he didn't really know him that well. Of course they had always hung out in a large group together, and there was mild teasing between them, despite the awkwardness of him yelling at her a few months previous. The fact he didn't even like her didn't help the matter. The whole sordid affair made her feel both used and curious, and the Yamanaka yearned to know why this happened to her.

* * *

A/N: Sorry if the chapter was kinda short. I needed to get back into the swing of things and I hope to update more frequently from now on! Please keep reading, ad be sure to leave any comments, questions, suggestions etc in a review :) I'd surely love you forever if you did!

For anyone taking finals now or soon, good luck!

Til next time,

MyHikari


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

A/N: Hey guys! Trying to update as fast as possible! Thanks to everyone who faved, followed and reviewed! Hoping for an extra-long chapter with this one.

Guest: Awwh thank you! I'm using this as motivation!

SuomiTytt: I'd be lying if I said I didn't put in that snippet of Toshiro just for you ;) Glad you like Naruto's relatives, I was wondering how that would go over!

* * *

Kiba laid on his bed miserably staring up at the ceiling. His companion, Akamaru watched him sadly from the floor, disheartened by the atmosphere his friend brought.

Kiba couldn't even begin to fathom why he kissed her. It seemed so easy at the time, she was right there, more specifically, her lips were right there. He supposed her smell had something to do with it, despite having those strong hospital smells he didn't like on her coat, underneath it all she smelled quite pleasant and flowery. Her eyes possibly played a factor. They shined with understanding and empathy. He needed that at the time. Then maybe again it was the atmosphere, filled with tension after that awkward spat they had had earlier in the day. He honestly couldn't even think where to start to figure out the situation.

After it had happened he just ran out of there as fast as he could. He got weird stares from that creepy nurse Ami, but he pushed himself to rush out of the hospital as fast as possible. He even bumped into Karin holding a stack full of papers. He remembered her confused face as he was conflicted over whether he should stop, before he grudgingly did so, and scooped up her papers for her without another word.

He felt bad for being such an asshole, but he remembered the panicky adrenaline feeling that pushed him to hop rooftop after rooftop until he reached his clan compound. He even barged into his home before he could give himself a moment to finally breathe. His sister Hana, sitting at the kitchen table didn't seem alarmed, but her fiancé, not used to Kiba's antics was. After an odd look at the boy, he resumed planning their wedding with her.

Kiba had trudged up the stairs, sat on his bed freaking out, and had for the most part remained there for the past day and a half. 'Boy', he thought, 'I've done it now.'

Hana poked her head in. "Kiba, you've been in here for days. I'm making you go actually do something."

Kiba stared at her for a moment before getting up resignedly. There was no arguing with her. Hana sighed. "Look Kiba, I don't know what's going on, but whoever it is- go talk to them." She then walked out, and Kiba took a minute before finally emerging from his room, Akamaru at his heels.

Just like before, Kiba trudged to the hospital, dreading talking to Ino. Akamaru sat down outside the entrance with an earnest face, letting Kiba know he would be waiting. The Inuzuka scratched his war reassuringly, and steeled himself to go find Ino.

After entering, he didn't have to look very far, as Ino was filling out a clipboard at the nurses station. Tension built within him as he approached her, and softly tapped her arm. Ino turned and had to stifle a gasp when she saw him.

"Can we talk?" he asked her, his voice softer than he expected. She nodded slowly, speechless. She guided him a little up the hallway, away from the ears of gossipy nurses. "Listen Ino," he began "I'm really sorry for yesterday, I don't know what happened and I keep having to apologize and I feel bad and yeah."

Ino was quite for a moment, and opened her mouth to say something, before an alarm rang out in the hallway. "Yamanaka, we need you!" a doctor running along a stretcher called to her. She nodded and turned to Kiba sadly, "Look I have to go, but we'll finish this another time, ok?"

With that, she ran to join the doctor for their patient in critical condition. Kiba stared at the spectacle with frustration, slamming his fist on the wall in anger, leaving a dent.

* * *

Naruto sat happily at the breakfast table in the inn at which he and his team was staying at downing food at an incredible speed. Neji simply looked at him.

"What's gotten into you, Naruto? You disappeared for hours yesterday and now you look really happy."

Naruto scratched his head sheepishly. "Yesterday, I went to see that Leader lady and she introduced me to some family I have that live here. I had dinner at their house last night, and I got to hear more about my Dad from my Aunt. Apparently I had grandparents too, but they died."

Neji softened slightly. "That's nice, it must be wonderful to be able to connect with family." Naruto smiled sadly. "My whole life I hadn't had any, y'know. It's nice though, we have a lot in common."

"I'm glad for you," Neji said, before looking up at Shikamaru who had approached the table.

"Finally awake, Shikamaru?" Naruto teased. The Nara scowled, and stated matter-of-factly, "Tsunade sent a response to Ryugakure."

"What does it say?" Neji asked.

Shikamaru pulled out a folded piece of paper and looked at it. "It says that Konoha has agreed to the alliance, and will be sending some medics to assist in training and a few more ninja. Trading contracts will be handled by the business sector soon. The treaty is included and signed by Tsunade."

"So we're going to train their ninja?" asked Neji, wondering what their job would be now that the treaty was signed.

"She said in the letter to wait for further instruction when the group arrives from Konoha. It papers she has yet to decide what to do with us." stated Shikamaru.

Naruto frowned. He had just found his family, and wasn't quite ready to leave Ryu yet. He rather liked the village as well, even if the ramen wasn't as good. He decided to speak up. "Have you brought this to the council yet?"

Shikamaru shook his head, "I was waiting for you guys to finish breakfast. However, since you're done, we can leave now."

And with that, the three Konoha ninja left.

Tsunade sat looking into her sake pondering who she could send out to Ryugakure. It would likely be a long-term mission, and some people were needed.

Naruto, Neji and Shikamaru were already there. Sai and Karin can't leave. Hinata was now more high profile than before. She wasn't left with many candidates.

Sighing, she down her little glass of sake and rose up from her desk, heading towards Shizune's with a slip of paper. "These are who I am sending to Ryu. Please gather them immediately."

With that, Tsunade went to do some paperwork.

* * *

Kiba whistled on his way down the hallway, towards the Hokage's office. He was happy to have an escape from his problems with Ino. He was going to a village quite far away and once he was back hopefully this whole thing would have blown over, and everything would be back to status quo.

He hoped anyway.

Shizune gave him a smile and pointed towards the Hokage's door. He couldn't believe his luck at this mission's timing, practically shouting out in happiness when he got news of it.

He opened up the door, and saw his teammates. 'Kakashi, that's cool' he thought, 'and oh look Sakura, and oh no...' His heart sank when he saw Ino standing next to Sakura. There could be no avoiding her now, not on the long journey it would take to get there with just the four of them.

"You four will be going to Ryugakure to help in training their ninja and medics. I can't say how long it will take, only that it will be lengthy and it will depend on how fast their training progresses. It's important to keep in mind that their ninja are competent and able, but don't have very many therefore we are assisting them. Go pack, you leave tomorrow morning." Tsunade said.

Kiba turned and left the office as soon as possible, not noticing Ino doing the same in the opposite direction.

* * *

A/N: Ok! Done with my second chapter in two days! I wrote like a fiend this morning because I wanted to pay you guys back for all those months you waited on the story! Next will be soon, hopefully by Monday I guesstimate?

Please leave a comment, concern, question or suggestion in a review! They inspire me to write much faster!

Love love love,

MyHikari


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

A/N: Hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of their summer. I hope you enjoy this chapter and please don't be afraid to leave a review! To everyone who did, as well as fave and follow, please accept my gratuitous gratitude!

Stallion6: Sure is!

SuomiTytt: I'll contemplate that. I always think I have what I want and then I sit down to write it and get new ideas! And also, you should enjoy your nice chunk of Toshiro in this chapter as you might not see him for a while!

Cloud Ex-SOLDIER: I'm glad you like the KibaIno. I always worry about the pairings as none of them are exactly the most popular besides NaruSaku. And Naruto definitely has a lot to learn still.

Toreh: So am I! Haha Jk, but sometimes this story writes itself. It will be interesting that's for sure.

laurah2493: thank you!

Exxcaliburr: You think so? I hadn't thought about that. However, KibaIno drama will go on a little while but the other couples have cooled down considerably. I just want to demonstrate how interwoven everything is. NaruSaku encourages Hinata to act rashly, she meets Gaara, they get engaged, Kiba feels sad, Ino empathizes, he kisses her, drama ensues. Thank you for your input!

Haruno Household

Sakura looked at the various packing scrolls on her bed as she tried to decide how she wanted to fit everything in. Strewn about the room were various clothing items, books and scrolls, medicines, herbs and medical supplies as well as food and weapons. As she started packing up her medical scrolls, somebody barged into the room. Looking up, her brother Toshiro stood there with a laundry basket and a disgusted face as he looked at underwear and bras. Using a wooden ladle, he picked up a fuchsia colored bra and tried to give it to her.

"That's Sayuri's," she said before returning to her packing.

"How can you tell?!" he sputtered, flicking the ladle at the opposite bed. Sakura smirked.

"It's not mine."

Toshiro picked up a black lacy negligee next and tried to ladle it onto her stack, before Sakura grabbed it and tossed it onto Sayuri's bed once again.

"How is that not yours?! You have a boyfriend! She doesn't!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "It's not lingerie Toshiro, it's a fancy nightgown, besides, don't you have better things to do than panty raid?" Toshiro frowned, "Mom made me."

"You know you could get out of a ton of chores if you just stayed at your apartment." Sakura chuckled before sealing one of her scrolls. As Toshiro set the laundry basket down, Kameko approached it and peered in, before pulling out a yellow sports bra. "Oh good it's clean, I need this." The youngest Haruno then continued onto her room, leaving her brother staring after her, with a horrified expression on his face.

"I'm going home..." he said, backing away slowly. Kizashi watched as he left and looked towards Sakura, confused. "What's all this commotion about?" Sakura merely pointed down towards the laundry basket, and her father promptly walked away as well.

Sakura merely rolled her eyes with an amused smile before returning to to her packing.

Yamanaka Household

Ino ran around her room panicking, trying to gather her possessions. She couldn't believe that when she thought she narrowly dodged the bullet in talking to Kiba. She had wanted to after it happened, but once he had confronted her all she wanted to do was run away.

'I'm a highly trained ninja, able to stay calm in high pressure situations, what's wrong with me?' she thought to herself as she packed for her mission. She was so lost in thought, she didn't notice her mother enter the room until she heard her say "Ino."

Ino whirled around to face her mother, fake smile plastered on her face. "Hi mother!"

Ino's mother, regal looking with nary a hair out of place, frowned at the disarray in Ino's bedroom. "You're going on a mission, I presume?"

Ino nodded, looking at the scrolls and clothes she held in her hands. "It's pretty long term, I don't know when I'll be home."

Her mother looked Ino up and down. "You don't seem particularly pleased about this."

"It's nothing, there's just a person going that I don't really want to work with."

Her mother pulled her into an embrace, and strokes her back comfortingly. "You'll just have to grin and bear it I suppose." she whispered.

Inuzuka Household

Kiba sat at the edge of his bed staring at his packed backpack. He dreaded this mission with every passing moment, and didn't know what he was going to do. He tried telling himself he was being a child and need to face the music, but what was he going to say? I'm sorry Ino, I love some other chick but for some reason I really wanted to kiss you the other day?

Akamaru whimpered in the corner. Kiba sighed. His moodiness tested Akamaru quite a bit, and it made him feel rather guilty with himself.

"Ready, bud?" he asked Akamaru. His companion barked his approval and headed towards the door. Kiba gave one last look around the room, before grabbing his backpack and followed Akamaru.

Konoha Gate

Sakura and Ino stood ready to leave at the gate, waiting for the remaining members of their team. As Sakura grumbled about Kakashi's lateness, Ino kept a lookout for Kiba. When she saw him approaching, she looked down at her feet, and looked around elsewhere, anywhere but his direction.

When he joined the group, it was overcome with an atmosphere of tension until Kakashi arrived 15 minutes later. With that, they set off for Ryugakure.

Naruto stood on the stoop of his Aunt's home in Ryu, hoping his family were home. A moment after his knock, his cousin Yumiko opened the door cautiously and peered out at him. Seeing that it was Naruto, she smiled and opened the door. "Hi Naruto, come on in!"

Naruto eagerly followed her into the house, looking around for other members of his family. Yumiko gestured to a couch in their living room. "I'll go get Mom and Mitsuo, go ahead and make yourself at home."

Naruto sat out on the couch, happy to observe their home. Seeing an open doorway to the kitchen he stood and peered through the doorway. Yoichi was seated at a table talking to a similar looking woman with orange hair the same bright shade as his. It wasn't Nakina, however, as her hair was too short and her eyes were blue instead of brown. Yoichi gazed in Naruto's direction, and broke into a friendly smile. "Ah Naruto, I didn't know you stopped by. This is my sister, Suka."

The Suka woman turned to face him, nodding politely and offering a handshake. "Suka Byaki. It's a pleasure."

Naruto shook her hand, but frowned. "Byaki? Like that civil war?"

Suka hesitated, but nodded. Yoichi sensed Naruto's confusion and interjected. "Like our cousin Nakina, we are some of the very few survivors of the Byaki clan. I chose to change my name with Mana due to the trouble it brings with some villagers. Suka has chosen to keep her name."

As Naruto pieced it all together, Mana and the rest of the family stepped in. Mitsuo smiled happily as he saw Naruto and greeted him, before seeing Suka sitting there. "Hey, Aunt Suka."

Naruto noticed that Yumiko stayed more reserved in greeting Suka than did Mitsuo. He also noticed Suka was wearing a doctor's coat. 'She must have refused to train Yumiko.' Naruto thought.

Deep in thought, Naruto didn't notice Mana speaking to him, and needed to be tapped on the shoulder. "Would you like to stay for dinner again, Naruto?"

Naruto nodded. "Sounds great, Aunt Mana!" His Aunt smiled, "Naruto, you don't need to call me Aunt."

He shrugged. It was something he rather liked.

Suka looked towards Yumiko. "Your dress looks rather nice without our Chunin jacket." Yumiko looked down at her dress, short and kimono style, seafoam in color, with blue waves along the bottom and a light blue obi. She smiled politely at her Aunt and murmured a thank you.

"Any luck finding a medical mentor?"

Yumiko shook her head no, before saying "You were my last hope for that."

Suka looked down. "I'm really sorry, I had already promised to train Nakina's daughter, Tsubaki."

Yumiko appeared sad, and Mitsuo decided to distract from the tension. "So Naruto, what's Konoha like?"

Naruto smiled, and started to answer, all the while wishing there was someway he could get Sakura to help Yumiko. Maybe his family could visit when he returned from this mission, whenever that is.

A/N: Sorry for the delay peeps! Please leave a review, it really encourages me to write! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, see ya next time! :)

-MyHikari


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